SC rejects request to end 26-week pregnancy
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to permit a married woman, a mother of two, to terminate her over 26-week pregnancy as the foetus was healthy and the AIIMS medical board found no abnormality with it.
A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said the length of pregnancy has crossed 24 weeks, the upper limit for allowing Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP), and therefore it cannot be permitted.
The top court said the foetus is 26 weeks and five days old and there is no immediate threat to the mother. There was also no foetal abnormality, it said.
A woman is given a date for the likely delivery of her baby that is calculated as 280 days after the onset of her last menstrual period.
“The length of the pregnancy has crossed 24 weeks and it is approximately 26 weeks and 5 days old. The medical termination of the pregnancy cannot be permitted,” the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said.
The apex court said if the medical termination is conducted at this stage the doctors would be faced with a viable foetus, which may face with issue of lifelong physical and mental disability.
The delivery will be conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at an appropriate time and the Union government has undertaken to pay all medical costs for the delivery, it said.
The bench also said that if the petitioner is inclined to give the child for adoption, the Union government has stated that they shall ensure that the process takes at the earliest and in a smooth fashion.
“Needless to say, whether to give the child for adoption is entirely that of parents,” the bench said.
Earlier in the day, the top court said the challenge to pregnancy termination law would be dealt with in separate proceedings, and the present case would be limited to the issue between the petitioner and the State. The apex court had earlier sought a report from the AIIMS medical board on whether the foetus was suffering from any abnormality.
The bench was hearing arguments on the Centre’s application seeking recall of the apex court’s October 9 order permitting the 27-year-old woman, a mother of two, to undergo termination of pregnancy at AIIMS as she was suffering from post-partum psychosis after the birth of her second child.
Under the MTP Act, the upper limit for the termination of pregnancy is 24 weeks for married women, special categories including survivors of rape, and other vulnerable women such as the differently-abled and minors.
The apex court was faced with a conundrum over whether to allow the woman to terminate her 26-week pregnancy.
The moral dilemma stemmed from what the court said about the rights of the unborn child and the woman’s right to her bodily autonomy.
The issue arose after one of the doctors of the AIIMS medical board, which examined the woman and filed a report dated October 6 in the apex court, sent an e-mail on October 10, saying the foetus had a strong possibility of survival.
The matter came up before the CJI-led bench after a two-judge bench on Wednesday gave a split verdict on the Centre’s plea for recall of its October 9 order granting permission to the woman to terminate her pregnancy.
