Thrissur (Kerala): State-run hospitals in Kerala fall notably short in delivering reproductive healthcare services, including the termination of unwanted pregnancies, according to official figures. Statistics released by the State Health Department for 2023–24 reveal that the rate of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) procedures in private hospitals has surged by more than two and a half times, whereas state hospitals registered less than two-fold increase over the same period.

In 2017–18, private hospitals recorded 6,647 MTP procedures, which escalated to 14,825 in 2023–24. Conversely, MTP numbers in government hospitals rose from 2,811 to 5,354 during the same timeframe.

The fundamental absence of privacy and stringent conditions, such as mandatory inpatient admission, deter women from approaching public healthcare facilities.

Additional deterrents include prolonged waiting times, the presence of unauthorised individuals in examination rooms, moral policing framed as ethical questioning, and mandatory insistence on the presence of a spouse or parents.

Healthcare experts point out that private hospitals exploit this reluctance through aggressive price negotiation, charging anywhere between ₹20,000 and ₹1,00,000 for the procedure.

Intervention by ‘Safe Abortion Kerala’

To ensure that women receive safe, dignified and judgment-free reproductive healthcare services across both public and private sectors, an initiative titled ‘Safe Abortion Kerala’ has been launched by V Firsha from Tenhipalam, Malappuram, and S Udayaswani.

The initiative originated from research and field investigations conducted by Firsha, a researcher at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, and Udayaswani, a project intern at the Indian School of Development Management from Palakkad, as part of ‘The YP Foundation’s SAFE Fellowship’.

Interested individuals can join the collective by contacting safeabortionkeralam@gmail.com.

 

Distress and poor experiences reported

“Women, whether married or unmarried, require abortions due to medical, social or financial reasons. Field research confirmed that women seeking these services in government hospitals frequently face adverse and degrading experiences,” noted Dr Malu Mohan, Fellow and Assistant Professor at the Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru.