Can’t compel woman to complete pregnancy, says Supreme Court

New Delhi: Directing medical termination of a 30-week pregnancy of a 17-year-old girl, the Supreme Court on Friday said that courts cannot compel a woman, much less a minor, to continue a pregnancy.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that the girl had become pregnant while being in a relationship with a neighbourhood boy and sought to medically terminate her pregnancy.

The bench asked Mumbai’s JJ Hospital to undertake the medical termination of the pregnancy of the minor while ensuring that all necessary medical safeguards are followed.

The bench observed that the court had considered the fact that the right of the minor child to continue the pregnancy, which, on the face of it, was “illegitimate” as she herself was a minor and was facing the pregnancy due to an unfortunate situation arising from a relationship.

It said the issue was not whether the relationship was consensual or the result of sexual assault.

“What has to be considered in the instant case is the right of the minor child to continue a pregnancy which is ex-facie illegitimate in as much as she is a minor and has to face this unfortunate situation of having the pregnancy owing to a relationship that she had. The issue is not whether the relationship was consensual or whether it was a case of sexual assault. Ultimately, the fact is that the child to be is not legitimate and secondly, the mother to be of the child does not want to bear the child,” the bench said.

The top court noted the report of the medical board of the hospital that there was no threat to the life of the child and the mother if allowed to give birth after full term.