Delhi HC rejects woman’s plea to abort 28-week foetus
The court was of the view that the abortion was neither ethical nor justified as there was no abnormality in the foetus
Termination cannot be allowed for a completely viable foetus of 28 weeks, the Delhi high court said on Thursday, while reserving order in a plea filed by a 20-year-old unmarried woman seeking to abort her pregnancy.
The court was of the view that the abortion was neither ethical nor justified as there was no abnormality in the foetus.
“This court is not going to permit termination at 28 weeks. Termination cannot be allowed for a completely viable foetus for 28 weeks. I cannot see any abnormality of the foetus. You’ll have to induce the pregnancy,” a bench of justice Subramonium Prasad said to woman’s lawyer Amit Mishra.
The remarks came a day after the Supreme Court turned down a request by a woman to to abort her 32-week pregnancy, citing mental trauma and depression after the death of her husband.
The woman had approached the high court after the doctors refused to perform the procedure as her gestation period was more than 24 weeks.
Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, woman can undergo abortions legally up to 20 weeks of pregnancy following an opinion of a registered medical practitioner (RMP), and up to 24 weeks for certain women defined under MTP Rules. Rule 3B(2) of MTP allows a woman to terminate her pregnancy between 20 and 24 weeks on account of a change in marital status through widowhood or divorce, mental anguish, rape, assault, and health complications, among other reasons.
On Thursday, Mishra urged the court to permit her to terminate her pregnancy as she had not even informed her family about the pregnancy.
However, the judge said that the court could grant the woman liberty to approach All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for examination and decide the future course of treatment.
“I’m not impressed by these arguments. Withdraw this with liberty to approach AIIMS for the purpose of examination & deciding future course of treatment. I’m not inclined to entertain this,” justice Prasad said to Mishra.