Interpreting the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act by primary care providers in rural Karnataka: implications on safe abortion services

Introduction Evidence shows that eight per cent of maternal mortality in India is caused by unsafe abortions. India was one of the pioneer countries to legalize its abortion services as early as 1971. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (MTP) is an enabling regulation, which allows MTP on both medical and social grounds and thus facilitates access to safe abortion services. However, despite this supposedly progressive law, which has existed for more than four decades, ‘illegal’ and unsafe abortions are still a reality in India particularly in rural areas. There is a large body of research on MTP that examines barriers to access safe abortion services from the users’ perspectives. This paper turns the research gaze from the users to the providers particularly at the primary health care level to examine the persistence of illegal and unsafe abortions in rural Karnataka.