Survey: 88% say allow mothers to decide on abortion

Bhayander resident Niketa Mehta created a storm of sorts in July 2008 when she announced that she wanted to abort her foetus after it was diagnosed with congenital complete heart block in the 24th week of pregnancy. The court dismissed her plea, but her case led to a raging debate.

Should a woman be allowed to abort her child?
Most say yes, if one goes according to a survey conducted by the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) on their website.

A majority of 88% respondents believed a woman should have the unconditional right on medical termination of pregnancy and that there is a desperate need to make amendments in the abortion law of the country.

Dr Rishma Dhillon Pai, senior vice-president, FOGSI said, “Though the MTP Act is liberal to women, it was made in the ‘70s. Since then, medical science has grown at a fast pace. Now, abortion beyond 20 weeks is safer.”

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, does not permit termination of pregnancy after 20 weeks. According to the act, a couple can only undergo an abortion if the mother’s life is in danger and not the child’s.

“We are not recommending abortion but want the amendment to suit certain cases like that of Niketa Mehta. When it is safe and necessary in certain cases, permission should be given. In certain cases, abnormalities in the foetus, like the cardiac problem in Mehta’s case, are picked up only after 20 weeks,” said Pai.

The Mehtas had filed a petition on learning about their foetus’s complete congenital heart blockage during an echocardiogram in her 24th week of pregnancy.

Their lawyer pleaded that extensive surgeries to implant a pacemaker and then more surgeries to change the pacemaker every five years would be economically unviable for the Mehtas, as well as traumatic for the child. The high court, however, rejected the plea.

“As a responsible group, we want to bring this to the government’s notice and request to make the amendments. So far, we have been hurrying couples with sonographies to check abnormalities in the foetus but sometimes it is not possible to find out,” added Pai.

FOGSI has more than 26,000 registered expert gynaecologists in India.