Unsafe abortions rampant in B’luru

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru

Nineteen-year-old Soumya took an unprescribed abortion pill from her local pharmacy in Bengaluru in January 2020. After consuming the pill, she fell sick for months. At first, she thought it was the side effect of the tablet. However, when her health condition didn’t improve after a while, she got herself checked. It was diagnosed that Soumya had an incomplete abortion, and she had a severe infection in her reproductive organs due to the pill she consumed.

Many women, like Soumya, take abortion pills without prescription or opt for unsafe abortion in the city.
Abortion does not invite much of a legal trouble in India unlike the United States or other Western countries.

India has often been praised for having a progressive abortion law, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 (MTP Act). However, reports suggest that abortions carried out by untrained persons or outside health facilities are a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in India.

The main reason for opting for unsafe methods is lack of knowledge about the legality of abortion and the prevailing social stigma, especially for unmarried women.

“When I got pregnant, I was in the second year of my graduate programme. I was scared. I didn’t have money. And I was too scared to go to a clinic. Then I found on the internet that abortion pills are available in the pharmacy. It didn’t require any prescription and they just handed it to me without asking anything. Later, the pill failed. I fell ill as my reproductive system was infected,” said Soumya.

Many teenagers are unaware of the legal age for abortion. What makes things complicated is the availability of abortion pill without prescription.