The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, is a landmark Act of the Indian Parliament that provides a legal framework for the termination of certain pregnancies by registered medical practitioners (RMPs). Its origin lies in the recommendations of the Shantilal Shah Committee (1964) and was enacted to reduce the high rate of maternal mortality and morbidity caused by unsafe, illegal abortions. The Act, which came into force on April 1, 1972, legalized abortion under specific conditions, shifting the focus from a punitive approach under the Indian Penal Code, 1860, to a health-centric one.
The Act works by specifying the conditions and time limits for a legal abortion, primarily under Section 3. The original Act permitted termination up to 20 weeks of gestation. The opinion of one RMP was required for termination up to 12 weeks, and the opinion of two RMPs was needed for termination between 12 and 20 weeks. Termination is permitted if the continuance of the pregnancy involves a risk to the woman's life or grave injury to her physical or mental health, or if there is a substantial risk of the child being born with a serious physical or mental abnormality. The Act connects to the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860, by providing an exception to the offense of intentionally causing a miscarriage, which is otherwise a crime under the IPC.
The Act was significantly changed by the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021, which received the President's assent on March 25, 2021. The amendment increased the upper gestation limit from 20 to 24 weeks for special categories of women, including survivors of rape, minors, and differently-abled women. It also extended the ground of contraceptive failure to unmarried women, replacing the phrase "married woman and her husband" with "woman and her partner". A major change was the removal of the upper gestation limit entirely in cases of substantial foetal abnormalities, provided the diagnosis is made by a State-level Medical Board. The amendment also added Section 5A, which mandates the confidentiality of the woman's name and particulars. The fundamental structure of the law, which requires termination to be performed by an RMP at a registered facility, remains the same.