India’s abortion law is progressive on paper. But reality says otherwise.

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]India has one of the more progressive abortion laws in the world. A woman does not need spousal consent. Mental health is a recognized ground for termination.

[00:00:07]Unmarried women have the same rights as married women. Compared to many countries where abortion is heavily restricted or banned, India's law looks far more reasonable. So then why are women still going to court for permission to use it? In 2024, a widow in severe depression petitioned the Supreme Court to terminate her pregnancy. The court said no and suggested she consider adoption. A 20-year-old asked the Delhi High Court to end a pregnancy because continuing it would derail her career. Denied. A 15-year-old had to petition the Supreme Court twice for a termination the law said she was entitled to. Do you see the disconnect? These women were not trying to break the law. They were simply exercising it and yet they ended up in courtrooms instead of clinics. That gap between what the law says and what women actually experience comes down to one distinction most people miss. India's abortion law does not exactly give women the right to an abortion. What it does is protect them and the doctors performing the procedure from criminal prosecution under certain conditions.

[00:01:03]Those two things may sound similar, but they're not the same because abortion in India is still placed inside a criminal law framework. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act or MTP Act lists the situations in which a pregnancy can be legally terminated. So the law is not built around abortion as a woman's decision. It is built around when abortion is permitted and that difference matters because when a doctor signs off on a termination, they're not simply facilitating your legal right.

[00:01:27]They're also taking on legal risk in a system where abortion needs to be justified. So as the pregnancy progresses, the instinct is to often refuse or wait for someone else to make the call. The law says that up to 20 weeks one doctor's opinion is required.

[00:01:40]Between 20 and 24 weeks, two doctors must agree. Beyond 24 weeks, the case usually goes before a medical board in specific circumstances. And if the board refuses, delays, or if the hospital hesitates, women often end up in court.

[00:01:53]Recent research examining more than 1,100 abortion cases in Indian courts between 2019 and 2024 found that most pleas were eventually allowed, which sounds like a good thing until you ask the obvious question. Why did so many women have to be in court at all? What's even worse and what makes me angry is around eight women die in India every day from unsafe abortions because the gap between permission and access is wide enough that women stop waiting and find another way. The MTP Act was written in 1971 as a public health measure, not as a rights framework. The law being progressive and the system actually working are not the same thing because a right that needs someone else's permission to activate is not fully a right. It is conditional access.

[00:02:34]So yes, we can take pride in having a more progressive abortion law than our counterparts, but if you're going to call it progressive, we should also be honest about who still has to fight to get it. If you found this useful, I share more such ideas every week. Hit the follow button and I'll see you on the next one.