Woman moves Supreme Court after Delhi HC denied appeals to terminate pregnancy

The woman’s lawyer mentioned the plea before Chief Justice of India NV Ramana for a hearing on Tuesday itself, arguing she has been going through immense mental trauma

Three days after the Delhi high court asked a 25-year-old unmarried woman to give her child for adoption rather than terminate her pregnancy of 23 weeks and four days, she approached the Supreme Court on Tuesday for permission to abort her foetus.

Permitting abortion at this stage would virtually amount to killing the foetus, the Delhi high court said. (File image)

The woman’s lawyer mentioned the plea before Chief Justice of India NV Ramana for a hearing on Tuesday itself, arguing she has been going through immense mental trauma and that every day’s delay is costing her physically and psychologically.

“We have just been informed by you about your petition. Let us see. We will consider listing it,” replied justice Ramana.

Permitting abortion at this stage would virtually amount to killing the foetus, the Delhi high court said on July 15 while asking the woman to rather put up her child for adoption. “We will not permit you to kill that child. (We are) very sorry. This virtually amounts to killing (the foetus),” it observed.

The upper limit for the 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 unmarried women in consensual relationships is 20 weeks.

The woman moved high court citing her unmarried status and a failed relationship wherein her partner “ditched” her at the last moment (about 18 weeks of pregnancy). Social stigma coupled with mental and financial constraints compelled her to approach the court to terminate the pregnancy at an advanced stage, her counsel contended. He said the woman was the eldest of four siblings and her father is a farmer.

The Central government’s standing counsel Kirtiman Singh opposed the plea before the high court, contending that permission cannot be granted as the foetus was developed and the baby was about to breathe.

At this, the high court suggested the woman to have the child. “Your whereabouts will not be known to anyone. Deliver the baby, please come back... You ask the client. Everything will be looked after by the government of India or the Delhi government or some good hospital. I am also offering to pay,” high court chief justice Satish Chandra Sharma, who headed the bench, said on Friday.

In its order released on Saturday, the high court recorded that the woman was not permitted under the abortion law after 20 weeks for termination of pregnancy arising out of a consensual relationship.

“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,” noted the order, adding the court cannot go beyond the statute while exercising its power under Article 226 (writ jurisdiction) of the Constitution.

Fixing the matter for hearing on August 26, the high court also sought a response from the Union government on her plea that questioned the alleged discrimination against unmarried women who want to terminate their pregnancy after 20 weeks.