Bombay HC asks state to publicise unmarried women’s abortion rights

Issued while hearing a petition filed by a 26-year-old unmarried woman, challenging Section 3(2)(b) of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 2021

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to widely publicise a Supreme Court ruling that recognises the right of unmarried women to seek termination of pregnancy, stressing that access to this right should not depend on judicial intervention.

Bombay High Court. Photo by Girish Srivastava/HT 08-01-02

The direction was issued while hearing a petition filed by a 26-year-old unmarried woman, challenging Section 3(2)(b) of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 2021, which mentions the categories of women eligible for termination of pregnancy between 20 and 24 weeks. She contended that the 2021 amendment excluded the category of unmarried women, thereby violating their constitutional rights.

During the hearing on January 29, counsel appearing for the central government cited a judgment passed by the Supreme Court in 2023, which held that “the rights of reproductive autonomy, dignity, and privacy give an unmarried woman the right of choice on whether or not to bear a child, on a similar footing to a married woman.” Subsequently, a division bench of justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande directed the State Public Health Department to ensure wide dissemination of the apex court’s judgment, observing that no woman should be required to approach the courts merely to exercise her right to terminate a pregnancy.