Until 1972, induced abortion was criminal in India under sections 312 to 316 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 unless performed to save the life of the pregnant woman. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, that was passed by the Parliament of India in August 1971 and came into effect in April 1972, legalised abortion in certain conditions so that women’s health and lives could be protected from the dangers of unsafe abortion.

The Act was amended once in 2002 and a further amendment was passed in the Lok Sabha in March 2020, though not tabled in the Rajya Sabha till the time of writing this paper. The paper discusses some of the concerns that have been raised about the proposed amendments. It examines whether the legal framework in India facilitates women’s access to safe abortion and concludes by underscoring the need to locate abortion within the paradigm of women’s rights and autonomy over their bodies rather than conditional decriminalisation.