E-Paper
Centre sent notice as plea in Delhi HC alleges ‘bias' against unmarried women in getting abortion
The court's order came while rejecting a plea by a 25-year-old unmarried woman seeking to undergo medical termination of pregnancy at 23 weeks and five days.
New Delhi: The Delhi high court has sought a response from the central government on a plea that questions an alleged discrimination against unmarried women who want to terminate their pregnancy after 20 weeks.
The upper gestation limit for termination of pregnancy is 24 weeks for special categories, including survivors of rape and other vulnerable women such as the differently abled and minors. The corresponding window for women in consensual relationships is 20 weeks.
The order came while rejecting a plea by a 25-year-old unmarried woman seeking to undergo medical termination of pregnancy at 23 weeks and five days.
Also Read: 'Why are you killing the child?': Delhi HC says unmarried woman should deliver
A bench of chief justice Satish Chandra Sharma and justice Subramonium Prasad had on Friday declined to provide relief, even though a detailed order in this regard was released on Saturday in which the court has agreed to examine the legality of the provision.
The woman had moved court citing her unmarried status and a failed relationship where her partner ditched her at about 18 weeks of pregnancy. Social stigma coupled with mental and financial constraints have compelled her to approach the court to terminate the pregnancy at an advanced stage, her counsel had contended on Friday.
In its detailed order, the bench said the woman was not permitted to do so under the abortion law. “The petitioner, who is an unmarried woman and whose pregnancy arises out of a consensual relationship, is clearly not covered by any of the clauses under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Rules, 2003,” the court noted in its order dated July 15.
The court cannot go beyond the statute while exercising its power under Article 226 of the Constitution, it said.
“As of today, Rule 3B of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Rules, 2003 (which excludes unmarried women) stands, and this court, while exercising its power under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, 1950, cannot go beyond the statute,” the court said.
During the hearing on Friday, the court had said that it would not permit the petitioner to undergo medical termination of pregnancy at 23 weeks, observing it virtually amounts to killing the foetus.
The court noted that the law granted time to unmarried women to undergo the procedure of medical termination of pregnancy and the legislature has “purposefully excluded consensual relationship” from the category of cases where termination is permissible after 20 weeks and up to 24 weeks.
It suggested that the petitioner can be kept “somewhere safe” until she delivers the child, who can subsequently be given up for adoption.
“We will ensure that the girl is kept somewhere safe and she can deliver and go. There is a big queue for adoption,” the court had said.
The matter would be next heard on August 26.
