Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill passed in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed a bill that allowed increasing the limit for abortions from 20 weeks to 24 weeks during pregnancy.

The Bill stretches the access for women to obtain protected and legitimate fetus removal on "therapeutic, eugenic, compassionate and social grounds" for "special categories of women", including assault survivors, casualties of inbreeding, those with disabilities or medical conditions and minors.

Also read: Not all banks will be privatized: Nirmala Sitharaman

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 introduced by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan was passed by the Lok Sabha on March 17 last year.  

Before the introduction of the new bill by the Union Health Minister, it was approved by the Ethics Committee and a group of ministers headed by Nitin Gadkari after substantial deliberation.  

Also read: Star athlete Hima Das disqualified after false start in Federation Cup National Athletics Championships

The Bill passed recently will guarantee dignity, autonomy and justice for women who need to terminate pregnancy.                

The whole issue came to light when news about a 10 year old girl from Chandigarh made headlines. The girl was raped for months by her uncle and delivered a baby through C- section after the Supreme Court rejected her request for abortion on July 28, 2017.