This qualitative exploratory research aimed to study abortions in five districts of West Bengal. It is a study on doctors performing abortions, their standpoints, challenges, and experiences, and how it influences the procedure and services offered to women seeking abortion. It also attempts to study how the current scenario around accessibility to abortion and quality of care is, along with the different challenges the doctors face in the field. This study shows that the doctors interviewed have a limited understanding of reproductive rights, and most have a moralistic outlook on abortion. Class bias runs deep, and bias against Muslims is also very prevalent. These viewpoints lead some doctors to refuse some patients on the basis of their reasons to seek abortion, that can lead these women to seek help from unqualified service providers, risking their health and wellbeing. The study also shows that women have limited access to contraception due to social bias and stigma, and abortion is treated as a family planning method. Many women seek abortion due to rampant domestic violence.

Srabastee De Bhaumik, Quality of care and accessibility to abortion: A study of doctors in West Bengal. A dissertation submitted- School of Social Work Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, 2019.