Case of Niketa Mehta brought Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act under public eye. The 37-year old MTP Act, allows termination of pregnancy from 12 to 20 weeks, if two medical practitioners are of opinion that “there exists a substantial risk that, if the child were born it would suffer from physical or mental abnormalities so as to be seriously handicapped.”

Nikita Mehta presented a plea in the Bombay High Court seeking permission to abort her 24-week pregnancy due to diagnostically detected heart problem of her foetus. The medical reports of  the unborn child showed complete blockage of the heart and malpositioning of the arteries. Bombay High Court rejected the plea saying that medical evidence did not indicate any compelling circumstances for abortion. Mrs Mehta later suffered a miscarriage.

The Niketa Mehta case questioned the relevance of the 37 yrs old abortion laws in the present times. These abortion laws were framed in 1971 when medical technology was not so advanced. But in the present era there are various advanced technologies such as Level-II ultrasound machine which can detect any abnormality at the advance stage of pregnancy between 22 and 24 weeks.

Union health minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, has set up a committee of experts to review Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act. The report of the committee will influence the course of action of government. The committee will investigate, the  possibility of increasing the time period of abortion, from existing 20-week to 24-week. The report of committee is due by next February.