France adopts bill to add abortion rights to its constitution

Subject: International Relations

Context:

Lawmakers of the lower house of parliament in France adopted a bill to inculcate abortion rights to the country’s constitution.

More about the issue:

Lawmakers in France’s lower house of parliament on Thursday adopted a bill to enshrine abortion rights in the country’s constitution, the first step in a lengthy and uncertain legislative battle
To be added into the constitution, any measure must be first approved by majorities in the National Assembly and the upper house, the Senate, and then in a nationwide referendum.
Abortion in France was decriminalized under a key 1975 law, but there is nothing in the constitution that would guarantee abortion rights

What are the abortion law in India:

Abortions in India are regulated by the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971.
Under the law section 3 of the MTP Act 1971, the doctor can perform an abortion in the following conditions:
If the pregnancy would be harmful to the life of the patient or affects her physical or mental health. The doctor will need to consider the circumstances of the patient to figure out if the pregnancy will harm her mental health, on a case to case basis.
If there is a good chance that the child would suffer from physical or mental abnormalities which would leave him or her seriously handicapped.
If pregnancy occurred as a result of a failure of contraception only applicable to married women.
If pregnancy is a result of sexual assault or rape.

Termination of Pregnancy:

If the pregnancy has not exceeded 12 weeks, only one doctor is needed to sign-off.
If the pregnancy has exceeded 12 weeks and is below 24 weeks, two doctors are needed.
The gestation period does not matter if a doctor feels that an immediate abortion must be conducted to save the life of the patient.
The doctor who determines if it is necessary to perform an abortion and performs it needs to be a ‘registered medical practitioner’ under the law.
In January 2020, the Union Cabinet approved amendments to the MTP Act, allowing women to seek abortions as part of the reproductive right and gender justice.
The amendment raised the upper limit of MTP from 20 weeks to 24 weeks for women including rape survivors, victims of incest, differently-abled women and minors.