2.1Pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 and Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971

A scan room in a Mumbai hospital is a routine place. Thousands of families walk in every week for a check-up on the baby's health. Yet the same machine, used for the wrong purpose, can be the start of discrimination against girls before they are even born. And the same hospital may also be the place where a woman lawfully ends a pregnancy that is harming her health. Two Acts govern these two very different situations, and exam answers lose marks when students blur them. This topic keeps them apart: one Act polices what may be done with a scan, the other says when a pregnancy may lawfully be ended.

In two minutes

The PCPNDT Act 1994 regulates pre-natal tests and bans sex selection and sex determination, while the MTP Act 1971 (as amended in 2021) allows registered doctors to end a pregnancy lawfully, within set gestational limits, on stated grounds and with the woman's consent.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Law Relating to Women and Children on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.