Cabinet approves raising upper limit for abortions to 24 weeks

The Cabinet approved the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to amend the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971.

By: Express Web Desk

New Delhi | January 29, 2020 02:30 PM IST

1 min read

Cabinet approves raising upper limit for permitting abortions to 24 weeks

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved extending the upper limit for permitting abortions. (Representational)

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved extending the upper limit for abortions from the present 20 weeks to 24 weeks.

The Cabinet approved the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to amend the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971. The Bill will be introduced in the upcoming Parliament session.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that raising the upper limit would ensure safe termination of pregnancies and also give women reproductive rights over their bodies.

Javadekar further said that the extension will help victims of rape, girls with disabilities and minors, who may not realise they are pregnant until later.

“In a progressive reform and giving reproductive rights to women the limit of 20 weeks of medical termination of pregnancy has been increased to 24 weeks. This is important because in first 5 months there are cases where the girl concerned doesn’t realise and has to go to court. This was discussed with various stakeholders. This will reduce maternal mortality,” Javadekar said.

With PTI inputs

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