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Government may Increase Legal Time Limit on Abortions

by Rajashri on Sep 10 2008 2:56 PM

The Indian government is considering a proposal to increase the time limit on legal abortions to 24 weeks.

"We want to extend the cut-off time to 24 weeks. The recent Nikita Mehta case has forced us to review the Act," said Health minister A Ramadoss on Times of India. "The MTP review committee would include health secretary Naresh Dayal and former director-general of Indian Council of Medical Research Dr N K Ganguly as members. They will hand over its final report in the next four months. Amendments, if required, will then be made to the MTP Act."

As per the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (MTP), 1971, women can abort an unwanted pregnancy till 20 weeks.

Abortion became an issue when Niketa Mehta approached the Bombay High Court to terminate her 25 weeks pregnancy after doctors found the baby had congenital heart disease. Mehta suffered a miscarriage after the HC dismissed her petition.

Source-Medindia
RAS/SK


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