Nearly 50 abortions in Delhi everyday
26 Aug, 2014Reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that Delhi has witnessed over one lakh medical termination of pregnancy (MTP also called as abortion in common parlance) in its government hospitals since 2008. This figure translates into nearly 50 MTPs everyday. Further, 32 deaths were registered due to complications during or after the said procedure.
There is no compiled data with the Health department about those who underwent the MTP as to how many of them were unmarried / married /minor.
Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) is legal and it permits abortion on medical grounds and the common reasons for undergoing the procedure are:-
· abnormalities in the foetus,
· contraceptive failure, and
· risk to the mother’s physical and mental health.
Many females undergo the MTP to limit the family size and for the spacing of pregnancies. MTP should not be used as a form of family planning. Activists have called upon the government to put in place checks and balances to ensure that people should not use medical grounds as an alibi for sex-selective abortion. With the declining females, there is a strong need to check selective foeticide. Further, they have called upon the government to take actions against those centres which are offering MTP even though the facilities are not proper.
Through a notice, the Medical Council of India has asked the general public as well as those working in the area of medical care to inform the medical council concerned in case they come across any unethical act or medical misconduct (commission/cuts/advertisements/illegal abortions/unnecessary investigation, and nexus with drug companies).