Huffington Post India: New Delhi: Thursday, May 18, 2017.
An RTI query
has revealed that for the first time in this decade, the number of abortions in
Mumbai has fallen. But are abortions on the decline in the country as a whole?
"Going
by the data that we have from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW),
the trend has show an increase in abortions," says Poonam Muttreja,
Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India. MoHFW data shows that
despite a general declining trend in the mid-2000s, there was an uptick in the
last few years for which data was available.
"However,
these numbers underestimate the actual incidence of abortion for several
reasons," Ms. Muttreja said. For instance, she pointed out, they exclude
abortions done by physicians who do not work in certified facilities, those
performed by health professionals who do not have specific training or by
untrained providers, and those using abortion pills without a prescription.
Another set
of data comes from women themselves, through household surveys. Based on this
data, nationally, the abortion rate the number of abortions for every 100
pregnancies has been on the decline. While data on abortion from the latest
round of the National Family Health Survey is not yet available, data from the
District Level Health Survey shows that abortion rates declined in most states
in the period between 2007-08 and 2012-13.
Nationally,
in 2014, 1.7% of all pregnancies in rural areas and 3.1% in urban areas
resulted in an abortion, according to the National Sample Survey Office. This
is a globally low number; the United States, for instance, has an abortion rate
that is close to 15%.
Abortion rates
in India were highest among women under the age of 20 in urban areas 13.6% of
pregnancies in that age group but this wasn't the case in rural areas where
early marriages mean fewer premarital and/or unwanted pregnancies. There was no
clear relationship between income or caste of the woman's family and the
likelihood of an abortion.
There is in
all probability under-reporting of abortion on account of the stigma attached
to it, the NSSO says. The relatively higher rate of reported "spontaneous
abortions" as compared to "induced abortions" could be on
account of the reporting of abortions as miscarriages, India's District Level
Health Survey found in 2007-8. Twice as many spontaneous abortions as induced
abortions were reported in that survey. "Women in the age group 15-19
years, Jain and from the highest quintile of wealth index reported relatively
higher levels of spontaneous abortion," the survey stated. "In
addition, women who reported more induced abortion belonged to the 35-39 years
age group, had 10 or more years of schooling and were the highest wealth
quintile."
Abortion
remains highly restricted in India. The governing law, the Medical Termination
of Pregnancy Act (1971), permits abortions before 12 weeks of pregnancy by a
registered medical practitioner or before 20 weeks of pregnancy with the
approval of two registered medical practitioners, but only if the mother or
child's mental or physical health is in danger. A slightly more liberal
amendment is under consideration, but still does not allow abortion if the
woman simply wishes to terminate the pregnancy. Just last week, an HIV positive
rape survivor was denied an abortion by the Supreme Court in India because she
was 26 weeks pregnant, having lost crucial weeks to the legal process.
13% of
married women still report an unmet need for contraception according to the
latest National Family Health Survey, and female sterilisation remains the
overwhelming mode of contraception in India.