“Life begins at conception,” Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar said at a recent anti-abortion event in Chennai. This triggered questions around abortion rights, access, legality, reproductive autonomy, and the role of the State, all of which require a considered and evidence-based response. 

This moment warrants an effort to understand how abortion is perceived in a country where reproductive autonomy has been under Article 21 (Protection of life and personal liberty) and where abortion, though broadly criminalised under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, is legally permitted within the framework of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act. 

At the same time, it also offers an opportunity to reflect on the narratives shaping abortion discourse in India, who gets to define them, and whose experiences are heard. While individuals are entitled to personal religious beliefs, can a constitutional authority invoke theological doctrine to undermine women's legally and constitutionally protected rights?

Does the MTP Act ensure access to abortion care?

India has one of the more progressive legal frameworks on abortion globally. Successive amendments to the MTP Act have expanded the circumstances under which abortion can be accessed, increased gestational limits, and strengthened legal protections around confidentiality. 

Yet on the ground, this legally permissive framework doesn’t always translate to accessible services for comprehensive abortion care, more so for adolescents and people marginalised by their identities and geographical barriers.

The law still does not recognise abortion “on request”, access continues to be mediated through statutory conditions, gestational limits, and required permission from registered medical practitioners and authorised facilities; the addition of medical boards in the 2021 MTP (Amendment) Act has furthered third party authorisation. In practice, abortion seekers continue to........

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