Pratigya Rights
Newsletter | January 2021 Edition
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Sign the petition to bring a CHANGE
Pratigya Campaign has initiated a petition urging Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister of Women and Child Development and Hon’ble Members of Rajya Sabha to allow survivors of sexual abuse to terminate their pregnancies at any time without any upper gestational limits and appealed to include this in the proposed Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
A 15 year old adolescent girl lost her life due to complications from pregnancy in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh on 7th January, 2021. She was sexually assaulted in June last year, however, the girl could not share the trauma with her parents and they came to know only when her pregnancy was visible. Unfortunately, that was beyond 20 weeks and she was denied abortion when they reached out to the district authorities as doctors said the pregnancy was advanced and a police case was on.
Thus, to prevent such loss of life and to avoid a similar fate for other girls, we earnestly appeal to amend the MTP Act to allow pregnancy resulting from sexual abuse to be terminated at any point during the pregnancy.
Sign the petition and share on your social network.
Act Now
#ChatWithPratigya: A Tweetathon with Partners to mark #NationalGirlChildDay and #InternationalDayOfEducation
To mark National Girl Child Day and International Day of Education, we organised a #ChatWithPratigya with our partners - Feminist Approach to Technology, HEEL Foundation and Solidarity Foundation on 22nd January, 2021.
50 years of MTP ACT
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971, framed to legalise abortions in India, completes 50 years of its existence this year. The existing MTP Act has not kept pace with the changing times, needs and advancements in medical science. Time is ripe for lawmakers to bring in progressive and robust changes in the MTP Act, which celebrates a pregnant person's choice and decision.
While we welcomed the MTP (Amendment) Bill 2020 last year, we couldn't help but notice that there still were loopholes in the Act that would continue to delay the process of seeking abortion.
Therefore, in order to strengthen this Act further, we proposed a set of recommendations aimed at making this piece of legislature a more progressive and inclusive one.
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Advancing a Rights Based Legislation
First Trimester abortions on request
No upper gestation limits for survivors of sexual abuse and not just for fetal anomalies
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Operational Convenience
Extend gestation limit to 24 weeks for all pregnant persons and not restricted to only 'certain categories of women'
Opinion of a single provider for gestation up to 24 weeks, instead of two providers for 20-24 weeks gestation
Medical boards should not be constituted and instead decisions should be between the pregnant person and the provider
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Harmonising Bill with Recent Laws & Judgements
Abnormalities should be replaced by the word anomalies
The term 'woman' in the Bill to be replaced by 'person' or 'pregnant person'
Ensure confidentiality
Global Developments in Laws on Induced Abortion (2008–2019) - A review article by Guttmacher Institute in collaboration with Centre for Reproductive Rights
The review article ‘Global Developments in Laws on Induced Abortion: 2008–2019’ authored by Lisa Remez, Katherine Mayall and Susheela Singh upholds the picture of periodical changes in the legal status around abortion in the world. It shows the factors that influenced this change which includes liberalisation and laws in favour, judicial decisions, constitutional reforms and development in access.
The article finds that, as of 2019, mere 69 of the 199 countries and territories in the world have laws conducive to seeking abortion without restrictions, putting in perspective the urgent need for improvement in order to ensure adequate access to safe services for women around world.
The report also finds that countries with considerably liberal laws faced a uniform rise in per capita income, denoting a likelihood of access to abortion being inversely related to the wealth of a country.
Overview of Laws as of December 2019
Out of 199 countries and territories studied -
175 out of 199 countries (87.9%), where abortion is legal on some ground or the other
24 countries (12%) prohibit abortion altogether
New Partner Onboard
We warmly welcome Jove Conscious Foundation (JCF) into our network. An NGO that is relentlessly working towards the overall development of women and the causes related to them. With our growing network, we are moving closer to achieving our goals of providing safe abortion and reproductive healthcare to all!
If you want to lend your voice to improve access to quality healthcare and promote equal rights then become part of our movement.
Join Now
Social Chatter
January was all about education, keeping girls in school and promoting SRHR. We celebrated the National Youth Day, National Girl Child Day, International Day of Education and Republic Day addressing the existing gaps in society and ways we can contribute towards bridging them.
Support Us
Bringing a difference to this world needs little of our efforts and lots of intent.
Learn how you can make a difference:
E-volunteer - You can help us advocate for women’s rights in many ways. We are always on the lookout for like-minded individuals who are willing to work with us in a number of capacities.
Partner with us - Joining us to work together with equal synergies to ensure equal and universal access to safe abortion for all.
Write for us - You can contribute by writing blogs and sharing them on our social media pages.
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