IDF organises a conclave on ‘Expanding the Discourse on CAC in India’

The purpose of this event was to create a wider community of advocates for CAC in India and for strengthening of safe abortion services

Ipas Development Foundation (IDF) recently organised a conclave on `Expanding the Discourse on Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) in India’. Participants at the conclave reiterated that there was an urgent need to strengthen safe abortion services by increasing the provider base and creating awareness on availability of comprehensive abortion care services across the country.

The two-day conclave was part of a series of events aimed at creating a favourable environment for making comprehensive abortion care services available to women in India. The purpose of this event was to create a wider community of advocates for CAC in India.

The CAC conclave brought together lawyers, civil society, service providers, researchers, academicians along with other experts to enable sharing and leveraging of synergies at various levels. The key themes of discussion were the role of communication in increasing awareness about CAC; unraveling medical abortion-use in India and leveraging its potential for women; breaking the cycle of unwanted pregnancies; and abortion and law.

Vinoj Manning, Executive Director, IDF said that close to 10,000 doctors in the public sector in 13 states have been trained for providing safe abortion services to women. He said that the first CAC guidelines issued in 2010 was a significant landmark in national commitment to making abortion safer. This has been followed by other progressive policy moves including a mass media campaign. However, delay in the passage of amendments to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 that would allow mid-level health workers to provide safe abortion services, and implementation challenges in light of laws such as Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 need to be addressed on priority.

Dr Atul Ganatra, Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society of India (FOGSI) said that conflict in laws and lack of clarity about laws have resulted in denial of safe abortion services to girls below the age of 18 for fear of prosecution. He asserted that there was an urgent need to educate everyone, including the law makers and law implementers, about existing abortion laws. According to him, the 20-week deadline for medical termination of pregnancy needs to be changed since not all women can rush to the Supreme Court when faced with such situations. There have been numerous instances where providers have refused services and seekers have had to approach the apex court.

Expressing concern over the inconsistencies in sale of medical abortion drugs in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, Shanker Narayan, PSI India, said that the price control of the drugs has impacted the availability of the drugs used for abortion since many pharmaceutical companies have stopped manufacturing these drugs due to reduced profitability.

Dr Suchitra Pandit, FOGSI representative, highlighted the need for client-centered counseling and service provision for women from all strata and age groups. This would be a key step in increasing women’s access to safe abortion and preventing them from seeking services from untrained providers. Chakshu Roy, PRS Legislative Services urged the critical stakeholders to engage with lawmakers to keep them informed about the subject and the challenges faced by women, for facilitating more effective laws and policies. There is a need to involve a larger group of stakeholders beyond activists, lawyers and doctors for creating an enabling environment for abortion access in India.