Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2017, which of the following are grounds on which a pregnancy may be terminated?
A. The continuation of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman.
B. There is a substantial risk that the child, if born, would be seriously handicapped by physical or mental abnormalities.
C. Amniocentesis has shown that the foetus is female.
D. The continuation of the pregnancy would involve grave injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → A, B and D only
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2017 lets a pregnancy be ended only on certain considered grounds. These grounds are a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or of grave injury to her physical or mental health, or a substantial risk that the child would be born seriously handicapped.
A. The continuation of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman. — True. This is the first ground in the Act.
B. There is a substantial risk that the child, if born, would be seriously handicapped by physical or mental abnormalities. — True. This is the second ground.
C. Amniocentesis has shown that the foetus is female. — False. Finding the sex of the foetus and then going for MTP is totally against the law. Amniocentesis for sex determination is itself banned to check female foeticide.
D. The continuation of the pregnancy would involve grave injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman. — True. This is part of the first ground.
So A, B and D are grounds for MTP.
Note: This question comes from the small box on the MTP Act, not from the main text. Boxes are short, so read every one of them; they have a habit of turning up in exams.
NCERT Extract:
Population Stabilisation and Birth Control – “… According to this Act, a pregnancy may be terminated on certain considered grounds within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy on the opinion of one registered medical practitioner. … The grounds for such termination of pregnancies are: (i) The continuation of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or of grave injury physical or mental health; or (ii There is a substantial risk that of the child were born, it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.”
Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) – “… Another dangerous trend is the misuse of amniocentesis to determine the sex of the unborn child. Frequently, if the foetus is found to be female, it is followed by MTP- this is totally against what is legal.”