Our Journey Over Time

Pratigya began in 2013 as a collective response to the growing conflation of sex selection and abortion in India, and the resulting harm to women’s access to safe and legal abortion care. What started as a shared concern among advocates, health professionals, and civil society organisations evolved into a national coalition working to protect and advance abortion rights within a gender-equality framework.

Over the years, Pratigya’s work has progressed through distinct phases, shaped by shifts in the legal and policy landscape, learning from on-ground realities, and the expanding strength of the coalition. These phases reflect a transition from building a shared narrative and coalition, to focused advocacy on abortion as a rights issue, to sustained engagement with law, policy, media, and public information.

The campaign has played a critical role in strengthening collaboration across sectors, influencing public discourse, supporting providers, and expanding access to reliable information, most notably through tools such as public resources and service directories. Pratigya’s collective advocacy contributed to landmark legal reforms, including the amendments to the MTP Act in 2021, while continuing to address persistent barriers related to implementation, stigma, and access.

The current phase builds on more than a decade of advocacy, partnership, and evidence-based action. This phase focuses on consolidating gains, responding to emerging challenges in access and implementation, and strengthening Pratigya’s role as a platform for collaboration, accountability, and public engagement.

This journey map traces Pratigya’s evolution across phases and situates our current work within a longer arc of sustained, collective effort to advance safe, legal, and dignified abortion care in India.

2013 to 2015

Phase I: Building the Collective

2016 to 2018

Phase II: Reframing the Narrative

2018 to 2020

Phase III: Influencing Systems

2020 to 2022

Phase IV: Expanding Access

2023 to Present

Phase V: Sustaining the Movement

Pratigya Campaign

Advancing women’s access to safe, legal, and dignified abortion care in India through advocacy, collaboration, and collective action. Bringing together stakeholders across health, law, media, research, and grassroots networks, working with governments and partners since 2013 to challenge stigma, influence policy, and expand access to services.

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Phase I: Building the Collective

2013 to 2015

Why This Moment Mattered

Following the 2012 census, a sharply declining child sex ratio intensified national efforts to address sex selection. In this environment, abortion increasingly became conflated with sex selective practices, restricting access to equitable, dignified, safe, and legal abortion services and creating fear among providers.

What Shifted

Pratigya was launched in 2013 as a multi stakeholder campaign, bringing together civil society organisations, providers, legal experts, and advocates. Early efforts focused on building a shared understanding across stakeholders and clearly separating abortion from sex selection narratives. Consultations with policymakers, providers, and gender rights groups helped establish a unified and rights based voice.

The campaign was initiated by a group of stakeholders with a clear dual focus: addressing gender biased sex selection while safeguarding women’s rights to safe and legal abortion services. This framing helped establish abortion as a rights and health issue, distinct from sex selection.

What This Enabled

A national coalition of over 60 partners was formed, creating a strong foundation for coordinated advocacy. A rights based framing of abortion began to take shape, laying the groundwork for sustained engagement.

Advocacy Milestone

  • Formation of a national multi stakeholder coalition anchored in rights based advocacy
  • Establishment of a clear narrative separating abortion from sex selection discourse
  • Early multi stakeholder consultations to align policymakers, providers, and civil society

Phase II: Reframing the Narrative

2016 to 2018

Advocacy Milestone

Despite early alignment, stigma persisted. Media reporting, clinic raids, and regulatory confusion continued to reinforce fear among providers and restrict access to services.

What Shifted

The campaign moved toward deeper state level engagement in priority regions. Efforts focused on clarifying the distinction between the Medical Termination of Pregnancy MTP Act, 1971 and the PCPNDT Act, while working closely with local partners to drive contextualised advocacy. Multi stakeholder consultations brought together government representatives, providers, and civil society to address barriers and improve understanding.

During this phase, the campaign’s mandate evolved to explicitly situate safe abortion within the broader framework of gender equality and sexual and reproductive rights, while continuing to address gender biased sex selection. Strategic focus areas expanded to include media outreach, government engagement, and partnerships with like minded organisations.

Advocacy Milestone

The coalition expanded to 82 partners, with significantly strengthened state level ownership. The discourse began to shift from control and restriction toward enabling equitable, dignified, and safe access, with greater recognition of systemic barriers.

Advocacy Milestone

  • Key partner in SheDecides India launch, strengthening visibility and positioning
  • Direct engagement with Members of Parliament on advancing MTP Act amendments
  • State Advisory Committee and 34 district committees established in Rajasthan; allocation of 10% IEC budget toward abortion issues
  • Media fellowships, journalist workshops, and engagement with entertainment industry stakeholders in Maharashtra
  • Launch of #MyBodyMyChoice campaign and sustained media engagement across national platforms
  • Strategic use of public statements, petitions, and open letters to influence discourse and policy
  • Commissioned key studies, including a legal review of abortion cases, a multi-state assessment of MA drug availability and regulatory barriers, and a broader policy scan on abortion within family planning priorities.
  • Analyzed national and regional media coverage to understand dominant narratives, directly informing communication strategies to shift discourse toward rights and access.

Phase III: Influencing Systems

2018 to 2020

Why This Moment Mattered

As discussions around abortion law reform gained momentum, there was a critical opportunity to shape policy through evidence and coordinated advocacy.

What Shifted

The campaign strengthened its focus on evidence based advocacy, developing legal and policy research to inform progressive recommendations. Engagement with policymakers, sector leaders, and media intensified.

A key intervention during this phase was a strategic partnership with Wikipedia, where Pratigya convened a wikithon with volunteers and experts to improve publicly available information on the MTP Act, 1971. At a time when Wikipedia served as a primary source of information, this effort helped correct narratives, add credible references, and improve public understanding. This is an area identified for renewed engagement to update links and strengthen accuracy.

This phase also aligned with critical policy developments, including advocacy around the MTP Amendment Bill 2020, where the campaign actively engaged lawmakers, government institutions, and allied organisations to shape the legal and regulatory environment. Focus areas expanded to include provider support, legal engagement, medical abortion access, media sensitisation, and alliance building.

What This Enabled

The network expanded further to 120 partners, strengthening collective influence. Pratigya emerged as a credible platform for convening dialogue and advancing rights based advocacy, while also shaping public knowledge ecosystems.

Advocacy Milestone

  • Engaged Members of Parliament on the MTP Amendment Bill (2020), contributing to key provisions in the MTP (Amendment) Act, 2021; complemented by consultations with civil society and sustained advocacy with MoHFW and DCGI on provider expansion, MA drug regulations, and access barriers.
  • Published multi-state research on MA drug availability and two-part studies on the judiciary’s role in abortion access;
  • Filing RTIs across 26 states to assess availability of abortion services
  • Drove high-impact petitions and legal actions— including campaigns with 15,000+ and 17,000+ signatures, and a joint petition in the Nikhil Datar case.
  • Built a crowdsourced public database of 30,000+ MTP providers and launched #FindMyMTP feature on the official website.
  • Convened national and international consultations (including with Girls Count) on MA drugs and legal conflation
  • Delivered advocacy training with PRS Legislative Research for 20+ partners.
  • Scaled media and digital influence: 300+ media articles and high visibility campaigns shaping public discourse, hosted a digital press conference on COVID-19 and SRH, and established a strong digital presence (Facebook, Twitter)— delivering 20+ campaigns and reaching 120,000+ users with over 183,000 impressions.

Phase IV: Expanding Access

2020 to 2022

Why This Moment Mattered

The COVID 19 pandemic disrupted access to essential health services, making continuity of care and access to reliable information critical.

What Shifted

The campaign rapidly adapted to a digital first approach while sustaining on ground engagement where possible. Advocacy efforts ensured abortion services were recognised as essential healthcare. Partners enabled access through tele consultations and decentralised service delivery.

Digital platforms were strengthened, including FindMyMTP, a provider directory designed with safety and confidentiality at its core. Simultaneously, RTI based insights and research strengthened evidence led advocacy.

The campaign also actively engaged with the implementation of the MTP Amendment Act 2021, including advocacy on rules and guidelines, while responding to emerging data such as NFHS V and marking key milestones like 50 years of the MTP Act.

What This Enabled

Access to equitable, dignified, and safe abortion services was sustained during a period of disruption. Abortion was formally recognised as essential healthcare, and digital tools expanded reach and accessibility. This phase marked a major advocacy milestone for the campaign.

Advocacy Milestone

Pratigya played a key role in building momentum and advocating for progressive amendments to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy MTP Act, 1971, leading to the MTP Amendment Act, 2021.

  • Advocated with DCGI to streamline Medical Abortion guidelines successfully addressing gestation-related ambiguity and extending the limit to 9 weeks.
  • Scaled digital advocacy through award winning campaigns such as #FindMyMTP, #OutWithTheDoubt, #HalfGlassFull, #BreakTheBias, and #ShameLessLearnMore.
  • National Wikipedia edit-a-thon to strengthen public information on abortion and SRHR
  • National consultations on NFHS V findings and implications for access.
  • Expansion to new digital platforms including Instagram and Quora, and revamped The Pratigya CONNECT newsletter.
  • Amplified media presence with 200+ articles (including 10 op-eds) and media sensitisation workshops with leading national publications.

Phase V: Sustaining the Movement

2023 to Present

Why This Moment Mattered

With key policy milestones achieved and shifts in the funding landscape, the focus turned toward sustaining progress and ensuring long term impact.

What Shifted

The campaign continues to support implementation of the MTP Amendment Act, 2021, while addressing persistent stigma and misinformation. Efforts focus on strengthening provider networks, sustaining media engagement, and improving access to accurate, user-friendly information.

A stronger emphasis is being placed on sustainability through reactivating the coalition network, deepening partner engagement, and expanding collaborations including youth and cross sector alliances to ensure long term ownership of the movement.

What This Enables

Pratigya continues to function as a national platform for collaboration and accountability, centering its advocacy wins, strengthening systems, and advancing equitable, dignified, and safe access to abortion services.

Advocacy Milestone

  • Transition toward a sustainable, partner driven coalition model
  • Ongoing advocacy to support effective implementation of the MTP Amendment Act
  • Launched a Digital Secretariat as a central platform for coordination and knowledge-sharing among partners and experts; expanded to LinkedIn for improved partner engagement.
  • Delivered integrated digital engagement through multi-format campaigns #FaislaAapkaSaathSabka (International Safe Abortion Day 2025), #MyBodyMyPratigya (International Women’s Day 2026) alongside live discussions across platforms—on mental health and abortion, ecosystem collaboration and including youth influencer-led conversations to expand reach and engagement.
  • Secured earned media coverage across platforms including The Hindu, Dainik Jagran, and Grihalakshmi.
  • Series of district-level pharmacist workshops across Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to build capacity on MA drug regulations, alongside ongoing advocacy with the State Drug Cells to address overregulation in MA drug sales.