The Indian Penal Code 1860 (IPC) has been amended only sparingly since its enactment. The substantive penal provisions contained therein are applicable to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The IPC originally had twenty-three chapters.

Violence is generally interpreted as physical, sexual and mental abuse of individuals.

This paper analyses, from the perspective of women's human rights, an unsuccessful attempt to amend the abortion law in the Penal Code of Sri Lanka in 1995.