Factsheet Examines the Impact of India’s Laws on Adolescents’ Access to Abortion Care 

Although India’s Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act), enacted in 2012, was designed to protect children from sexual offences, the Act has created several barriers that deter adolescents from accessing safe and legal abortion services. 

The Center for Reproductive Rights partnered with the Law and Marginalisation Clinic at the Centre for Justice, Law and Society (CJLS) at Jindal Global Law School; CommonHealth; YP Foundation; and Hidden Pockets to develop a factsheet examining the POCSO Act and its impact on adolescents’ access to care. 

Titled The POCSO ACT & Adolescents’ Access to Abortion in India: Heightened Vulnerabilities, Health Risks, and Impact on Their Rights, the factsheet maps out the laws governing abortion in India—including the original Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act and the Indian Penal Code, as well as the changes made to the MTP Act in 2021 that allowed for abortion in limited circumstances.  

POCSO Act Creates Barriers for Both Adolescents and Service Providers  

Enacted to “protect children from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography,” the POCSO Act also outlines offenses of sexual nature involving a “child” under 18 years of age.  

Several provisions of the Act—notably reporting mandates and age of consent—have created barriers for both service providers and adolescents. As a result, adolescents have been deterred from accessing abortion care.  

Using India’s constitutional and international human rights frameworks, the factsheet examines the legal provisions of the POCSO Act and identifies the resulting key barriers to care:  

• Confidentiality of pregnant persons: While the MTP Act requires identities of the pregnant persons to be kept confidential, the POCSO Act mandates the service providers to report the identity of adolescent pregnant person to the legal authorities. This deters the service providers from providing abortion related services to adolescents.   
• Criminalization of consensual sexual activity among adolescents: The blanket mandatory reporting provision under the POCSO Act indiscriminately impacts adolescents who engage in sexual activity among themselves.
• Fear of Prosecution: The mandatory reporting provision casts fear of criminalization among abortion service providers adolescents seeking SRHR information and services, and their age-mate consensual sexual partners.

According to the POCSO Act factsheet, a study by India’s National Family Health Survey (2019–21) found that 10% and 39% of women (aged 25- 49 years) first had sex before the ages of 15 and 18 respectively. A 2016 representative study of adolescent behaviour in Bihar found that 14.1% boys and 12.1% girls (including married and unmarried girls) (aged 15-19 years) had premarital sex with similar findings in a study in Uttar Pradesh.

“The reporting mandate . . . under the POCSO Act combined with the legal age of consent effectively criminalizes consensual sexual relationships between adolescents.” 

The POCSO ACT & Adolescents’ Access to Abortion in India: Heightened Vulnerabilities, Health Risks, and Impact on Their Rights