What prevents women from seeking safe, legal abortions? Studies show that the awareness about abortion and its legality is very low among people. To add to the confusion, the implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 or PCPNDT Act which makes sex selection illegal gives anti-abortion messages.

This is the fifth and final episode of a series Matter of Choice, a series that explores how women face medical, legal and social barriers to abortions. Suno India’s Menaka Rao spoke to Saraswati Sahu, a leader with the Chhatisgarh Mahila Mukti Morcha that works on the rights of workers, who talks about her own abortion stories and how she used to feel abortion was illegal, and that she had to undergo abortion surreptitiously. Menaka also talked to Pritam Potdar, the managing director with the Pune-based non-profit, Samyak Communication and Research Centre, which works on gender rights. Menaka also spoke to Vinoj Manning, the CEO of the international non profit Ipas Development Foundation and his colleague, Samina Parveen who works as a specialist in the research and evaluation team at IPAS which recently released a survey on the attitudes of Indians about abortion.

This podcast is supported by Pulitzer center

References

Trends in selective abortions of girls in India: analysis of nationally representative birth histories from 1990 to 2005 and census data from 1991 to 2011 - PubMed

Pre-Conception & Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 | India Code

At 914, child sex ratio is the lowest since Independence - The Hindu

https://www.masum-india.org.in/images/Sex%20selection%20and%20safe%20abortion.pdf

Doctors wary of conducting abortions after 12 weeks | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times

Illegal sale of abortion pills: Drug inspectors raid seven medical stores in Beed | Mumbai News - Times of India

Private detectives to check sex determination tests in Punjab | Chandigarh News - Times of India

Why getting a safe abortion by a registered gynaecologist has become almost impossible

(PDF) " If a woman has even one daughter, I refuse to perform the abortion " : Sex determination and safe abortion in India

(PDF) Evaluating the relative effectiveness of high-intensity and low-intensity models of behaviour change communication interventions for abortion care-seeking in Bihar and Jharkhand, India: A cross-sectional study

Improving care seeking behavior of young women for sexual and reproductive health in Assam and Madhya Pradesh

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