Abortion has been legal in India under various with the introduction of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Regulations, 2003 were issued under the Act to enable women to access safe and legal abortion services.
In 2021, MTP Amendment Act 2021 was passed with certain amendments to the MTP Act 1971, such as women being allowed to seek safe abortion services on grounds of contraceptive failure, an increase in gestation limit to 24 weeks for special categories of women, and opinion of one abortion service provider required up to 20 weeks of gestation. Abortion can now be performed until 24 weeks of pregnancy as the MTP Amendment Act 2021 has come into force by notification in Gazette from 24 September 2021. The cost of the abortion service is covered fully by the government's public national health insurance funds, Ayushman Bharat and Employees' State Insurance with the package rate for surgical abortion being set at which includes consultation, therapy, hospitalization, medication, ultrasound, and follow-up treatments. For medical abortion, the package rate is set at which includes consultation and USG.
Abortion laws
Current legal framework The latest Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) rules, as of 2026, as the amendments announced by the government on October 12, 2022. Following are the revised rules as per the amendment act: The gestation period upper limit for terminating a pregnancy with 1 doctor's opinion has been extended from 12 weeks to 20 weeks, with the rule being expanded to include unmarried women as well. The gestation period upper limit for termination of pregnancy with 2 doctors' opinion has been extended from 20 weeks to 24 weeks, for the following special categories: survivors of sexual assault or rape or incest minors change of marital status during the pregnancy (widowhood and divorce) women with physical disabilities mentally ill women the foetal anomalies that have substantial risk of being incompatible with life or if the child is born it may suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities to be seriously handicapped women with pregnancy in humanitarian settings or disaster or emergency A state-level Medical Board will determine the request for termination of a pregnancy longer than 24 weeks in the cases of foetal anomalies
Role of the medical board
To examine the woman and her reports To approve or deny the request for termination within 3 days of receiving it To ensure that the termination procedure, when advised by the Medical Board, is carried out with all safety precautions along with appropriate counselling within 5 days of the receipt of the request for medical termination of pregnancy
The Medical Board shall consist of the following
a Gynaecologist; a Pediatrician; a Radiologist or Sonologist; and other members notified by the State Government or Union territory
History
Before 1971 (Indian Penal Code, 1860) Before 1971, abortion was criminalized under Section 312 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 Except in cases where abortion was carried out to save the life of the woman, it was a punishable offense. The Code criminalized both women and providers, with whoever voluntarily caused a woman with child to miscarry facing three years in prison and/or a fine, and the woman availing of the service facing seven years in prison and/or a fine.
Shah Committee and the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 The Shah Committee was appointed by the Government of India in 1964. The Committee carried out a comprehensive review of the socio-cultural, legal and medical aspects of abortion. The Committee in 1966 recommended legalizing abortion in its report to prevent wastage of women's health and lives on both compassionate and medical grounds. According to the report, in a population of 500 million, the number of abortions per year will be 6.5 million–2.6 million natural and 3.9 million induced.
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 provides the legal framework for abortion in India. Termination of pregnancy is permitted for a broad range of conditions up to 20 weeks of gestation as detailed below: MTP Act, Amendments, 2002 The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act 1971, was amended in 2002 to facilitate better implementation and increase access for women especially in the private health sector.
The amendments to the MTP Act in 2002 decentralized the process of approval of a private place to offer abortion services to the district level. The District level committee is empowered to approve a private place to offer MTP services in order to increase the number of providers offering CAC services in the legal ambit. The word 'lunatic' was substituted with the words "mentally ill person". This change in language was instituted to lay emphasis that "mentally ill person" means a person who is in need for treatment by reason of any mental disorder other than intellectual disability. For ensuring compliance and safety of women, stricter penalties were introduced for MTPs being conducted in unapproved sites or by untrained medical providers by the Act. 1971
MTP Rules, 2003 The MTP Rules facilitate better implementation and increase access for women especially in the private health sector. Composition and tenure of District Level Committee: The MTP rules 2003, define composition of the committee stating that one member of the committee should be a gynecologist / surgeon/ anesthetist and other members should be from the local medical profession, non-government organizations, and Panchayati Raj Institution of the district and one member of the committee should be a woman. Approved place for providing medical termination of pregnancies: The MTP Rules 2003, provide specific guidelines pertaining to equipment, facilities, drugs, and referral linkages to higher facilities required by an approved place for providing quality CAC and post abortion services. Inspection of private place: The MTP Rules 2003 state that an approved can be inspected by the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), as often as may be necessary with a view to verify whether termination of pregnancies are being done therein under safe and hygienic conditions. Cancellation or suspension of a certificate of approval for a private place: As per the MTP Rules 2003, if the CMO of the District is satisfied that the facilities specified in rule 5 are not being properly maintained therein and the termination of pregnancy at such place cannot be made under safe and hygienic conditions, she/he shall make a report of the fact to the Committee giving the detail of the deficiency or defects found at the place. The committee may, if satisfied, can suspend or, cancel the approval of the place provided that the committee gives the owner of the place a chance of representation before the certificate issued under rule 5 is cancelled.
MTP Amendment Act, 2021 On 29 January 2020, Government of India first introduced the MTP Amendment Bill 2020, which was passed in Lok Sabha on 17 March 2020. A year later, the Bill was placed in Rajya Sabha and was passed on 16 March 2021 as the MTP Amendment Act 2021. The Amendments are as below: Married clause dropped - The MTP Act earlier permitted termination of the pregnancy by only a married woman in the case of failure of contraceptive method or device. With the amendment, unmarried women can now seek safe abortion services on grounds of contraceptive failure. Increase in gestation limit - Under the MTP Act 1971, the time limit for terminating pregnancy was up to 12 weeks on the advice of one doctor and up to 20 weeks on the advice of two doctors. Moreover, post 20 weeks terminating pregnancy was not permitted. However, now all women can terminate pregnancy up to 20 weeks on the advice of one doctor and special categories of women (survivors of sexual abuse, minors, victims of rape, incest, disabled women) can seek termination up to 24 weeks. Moreover, women/couples can seek termination of pregnancy, anytime during the gestation period for foetal anomalies, as diagnosed by the Medical Boards. Medical Boards - The amendments mandate constitution of Medical Boards in all the states and union territories for diagnosing substantial fetal anomalies. The Board will decide if a pregnancy may be terminated after 24 weeks and each board will have a gynecologist, radiologist/sonologist, pediatrician and other members notified by the government. Confidentiality - A registered medical practitioner may only reveal the details of a woman whose pregnancy has been terminated to a person authorized by law. Violation is punishable with imprisonment up to a year, a fine, or both.
Statistics There is significant variance in the estimates for the number of abortions reported and the total number of estimated abortions taking place in India. According to HMIS reports, the total number of spontaneous/induced abortions that took place in India in 2016–17 was 970,436, in 2015–16 was 901,781, in 2014–15 was 901,839, and in 2013–14 was 790,587. It is reported that ten women die every day in India due to unsafe abortions.
Abortion incidence in India The Guttmacher Institute, New York, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai and Population Council, New Delhi conducted the first study in India to estimate the incidence of abortion. The results from this study were published in Lancet Global Health journal in December 2017 in the form of a paper titled "The incidence of abortion and unintended pregnancy in India, 2015". This study estimates that 15.6 million abortions took place in India in 2015. 3.4 million (22%) of these took place in health facilities, 11.5 million (73%) were done through medical methods outside facilities, and 5% are expected to have been done through other methods. The study further found the abortion rate at 47 abortions per 1000 women aged 15–49 years.
Prior to this study, the last available estimate for incidence of abortion at 6.4 million abortions per year in India was from the 'Abortion Assessment Project — India'. It was a study of 380 abortion facilities (of which 285 were private) carried out across six states. The study found that "on average there were four formal abortion facilities (medically qualified though not necessarily certified to carry out abortions) per 100,000 population in India and an average of 1.2 providers per facility". Out of the total formal abortion providers, 55% were gynecologists and 64% of the facilities had at least one female provider. The study further found that only 31% of the reasons for seeking abortion by women were within grounds permitted under the MTP Act, the other reasons being unwanted pregnancy, economic reasons and unwanted sex of the foetus.
Profile of women seeking abortion A client profile study focusing on the socio-economic profiles of women seeking abortion services, and costs of receiving abortion services at public health facilities in Madhya Pradesh, India, revealed that "57% of women of who received abortions at public health facilities were poor, followed by 21% moderate and 22% rich. More poor women sought care at primary health level facilities (58%) than secondary level facilities, and among women presenting for post-abortion complications (67%) than induced abortion." Further, the study found that women admitted to spending no money to access abortion services as they are free at public facilities. Poor women, it was reported, "spend INR 64 (USD 1) while visiting primary level facilities and INR 256 (USD 4) while visiting urban hospitals, primarily for transportation and food". The study concluded that the "improved availability of safe abortion services at the primary level in Madhya Pradesh has helped meeting the need of safe abortion services among poor, which eventually will help reducing the maternal mortality and morbidity due to unsafe abortion".