2 Abortion

The offence: procuring or causing the miscarriage of a woman (by the woman herself or by another's act) outside the law's permission — the offence protecting the foetal life (and the woman's safety, historically the statute's other face). Nepal's landmark reform (the exam's celebrated story): the 2002 amendment (the 11th- amendment era) legalized abortion — among South Asia's first — and the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights Act, 2075 (2018) now frames the lawful grounds (state by principle): the woman's voluntary request within the first trimester (12 weeks); longer windows for rape and incest pregnancies; the maternal life/health exceptions; fetal-impairment grounds — all through authorized services. The consequence: abortion outside these grounds (unsafe, unauthorized, coerced) remains criminal — the offence now policing the unqualified provider and the forced termination rather than the woman's choice (sex-selective abortion the modern aggravation — the patriarchal misuse criminalized and monitored).