Abortion of a minor girl and conflict of law in India

A. Introduction
Right to procreation and to have control over one's reproductive organs gives birth to another right i.e. the right to abortion A landmark case recognizing this right is the judgment of the US Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade1 where it was held that the fundamental right of the woman to choose whether to bear children follows from the right of privacy or liberty in matters related to marriage, family, and sex. From Legal perspective, access to safe abortion is a fundamental aspect of womens health and is guaranteed under Right to Life and Personal Liberty. It is argued that since Constitution guarantees right to life and personal liberty to all, it implies that even the unborn child has the right to life under Article 21. However, it has other aspect as well i.e. the choice to rear and bear children or not should essentially belong to the women concerned if Article 2 1 has to have any meaning for them. There is a conflict in law regarding the abortion of a girl below 18 years of age with those meant to safeguard children from sexual abuse. A woman has a legal right under section 3 (4)(b) of The Medical Termination Of Pregnancy Act, 1971which inter- alia states that a pregnancy shall be terminated only with the consent of a pregnant women. This Act under section 7(c) further guarantees absolute confidentiality to a woman irrespective of her age. But a cross road arises when the pregnant women mentioned above is below 18 years of age. Section 3(a) read with section 5 (j)(ii) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 criminalizes sex with such girl presuming that pregnancy in such case is result of rape. Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013, further substantiate the same view under section 375 (d) sixthly criminalizes sex below the age of 18 years even if it is consensual.

B. Literature Review
It will include juristic writings on Abortion of a minor girl and conflict of law in India. To
achieve the objective of the research books, articles, reports cases, monographs and databases will be referred to highlight:

To general developments in the field. Contribution in the filed through various writings.

410 U.S. 113 (1973)

C. Methodology
1) Objectives

1. To study the legal status of abortion in India Pre and Post Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971. 2. To study the overlapping effects of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013 after Nirbhaya Case. 3. To study criminalization of consensual sex in the light of Mature Minor doctrine. 4. To study the rationale in difference in the Legal age of marriage and consensual sex. 2) Data collection While doing research on the above doctrinal study, secondary data will be collected from the following resources: Library resources/reports/internet. Case studies. Case Laws/Judgments.

D. Observations and Findings

This section will include data analysis and interpretation by doing following: Major observations with critical analysis and synthesization of material collected. Construction of arguments based on the literature surveyed and data analyzed. Case law analysis. Support or deviation from any existing thinking or research on the subject.

E. Conclusions and recommendations

In this section, a fresh light will be shed on the jurisprudential value of the findings in the research. It will also offer alternatives and suggestions that have bearing on existing policies. It will state how the above study contributed to: Direction to future research. Contribution to existing field or policy implications. Limitations in the study.