The Constitution of India provides fundamental protections for all Indians. Most crucially, the constitution protects the Right to Life and a number of derivative rights, including the right to health and the right to be free from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The Government of India has developed a number of specific laws to address reproductive rights issues including child marriage, medical termination of pregnancy and sex selection.
To correct fundamental rights violations and to improve the reproductive rights situation in India, the government of India has developed a number of schemes to improve healthcare, to increase institutional deliveries, and to encourage healthy behaviour. Finally, India is a party to a number of international human rights conventions that obligate the government to protect, promote, respect and fulfill reproductive rights.
This section provides a brief overview of existing legal protections in India.
Laws
The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969
Articles
“The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and. as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents” Article 7,
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Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act 1994
Articles
The Government of India enacted this law to respond to the country’s disproportionate sex ratio. First, the Act prohibits genetic laboratories from undertaking any technique that facilitates or causes sex determination (including sperm sorting). Secondly, the Act regulates prenatal diagnostic techniques including ultrasonography to determine the sex of the
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Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (1971)
Articles
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (MTP Act) allows qualified doctors to perform abortions for women in clinics or hospitals. The MTP Act allows abortions for women in specific situations:
Women whose physical or mental health is endangered by pregnancy;
Women who will give birth to a handicapped or
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Litigation
- Presentations from the Two Day Webinar on Reproductive Rights on 23rd & 24th of May, 2020
- Patna High Court: Ration facility for all transgender persons
- Nikhil Datar vs. Union of India: A long drawn struggle
- Patna High Court gives favourable order in response to the PIL on water logging in the state
- Guwahati High Court delivers landmark judgement; Department of Health and Family Welfare to pay Twenty Five Lakh Rupees to Petitioner in Nagaland
Fact Finding
- Presentations from the Two Day Webinar on Reproductive Rights on 23rd & 24th of May, 2020
- Report on the State level Consultation in Arunachal Pradesh on 2nd & 3rd November, 2019
- Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights Dictionary
News
- Report of the two day webinar on ‘Access to Reproductive Justice’ on 23rd & 24th May, 2020
- Report of the National level consultation on Trans people and women’s issues- 28th & 29th December, 2019
- Nikhil Datar vs. Union of India: A long drawn struggle