3.3 M EDICAL T ERMINATION OF P REGNANCY (MTP)

. M EDICAL T ERMINATION OF P REGNANCY (MTP) Intentional or voluntary termination of pregnancy before full term is called medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) or induced abortion. Nearly to million MTPs are performed in a year all over the world which accounts to /5th of the total number of conceived pregnancies in a year. Whether to accept / legalise MTP or not is being debated upon in many countries due to emotional, ethical, religious and social issues involved in it. Government of India legalised MTP in with some strict conditions to avoid its misuse. Such restrictions are all the more important to check indiscriminate and illegal female foeticides which are reported to be high in India. Why MTP ? Obviously the answer is –to get rid of unwanted pregnancies either due to casual unprotected intercourse or failure of the contraceptive used during coitus or rapes. MTPs are also essential in certain cases where continuation of the pregnancy could be harmful or even fatal either to the mother or to the foetus or both. MTPs are considered relatively safe during the first trimester, i.e., upto weeks of pregnancy. Second trimester abortions are much more riskier. One disturbing trend observed is that a majority of the MTPs are performed illegally by unqualified quacks which are not only unsafe but could be fatal too. Another dangerous trend is the misuse of amniocentesis to determine the sex of the unborn child. Frequently, if the foetus is found to be female, it is followed by MTP- this is totally against what is legal. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, was enacted by the government of India with the intension of reducing the incidence of illegal abortion and consequent maternal mortality and morbidity. According to this Act, a pregnancy may be terminated on certain considered grounds within the first weeks of pregnancy on the opinion of one registered medical practitioner. If the pregnancy has lasted more than weeks, but fewer than weeks, two registered medical practitioners must be of the opinion, formed in good faith, that the required ground exist. The grounds for such termination of pregnancies are: (i) The continuation of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or of grave injury physical or mental health; or (ii There is a substantial risk that of the child were born, it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.