Delhi HC directs medical board to examine 2 women seeking abortion after 20 weeks

While one of the women discovered that her foetus was suffering from a walking syndrome, the other had found that her foetus was suffering from severe oligohydramnios, enlarged echogenic kidneys and echogenic bowel, thus causing severe near-fatal abnormalities.

The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the medical board at the Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) to examine two women who had moved court seeking permission to abort their foetus after 20 weeks due to some abnormalities.

The court said that if the board finds that it is safe to terminate pregnancy, it should be done on Saturday itself. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A bench of Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Talwant Singh directed that the Director Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Chairperson of the Permanent Medical Board of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) cases, to immediately assess both the women individually. The court said that if the board finds that it is safe to terminate pregnancy, it should be done on Saturday itself.

The order comes as the court was hearing two identical petitions in which the women had moved court seeking permission to abort as their foetus had abnormalities. While one of the women discovered that her foetus was suffering from a walking syndrome, the other had found that her foetus was suffering from severe oligohydramnios, enlarged echogenic kidneys and echogenic bowel, thus causing severe near-fatal abnormalities.

The plea filed through advocate Sneha Mukherjee had also challenged the constitutional validity of one of the clauses in the MTP Act, which imposed a cap of 20 weeks on women for an abortion.

On Friday, the Delhi government’s counsel told that there is already a permanent medical board for such cases. Following this, the court ordered the medical board to examine the women and also sought the response of the Centre on the plea.

The matter would be now heard on September 23.