Pregnant Mumbai woman wants to abort 23-week-old foetus with fatal brain condition

Mumbai city news: The foetus has been diagnosed with anencephaly — a rare condition in which the baby is born with parts of the brain missing and dies soon after birth

A 26-year-old woman from Mumbai’s western suburbs has approached a city doctor to abort her 23-week-old foetus which has been diagnosed with anencephaly, a rare condition in which the baby is born with parts of the brain missing.

As the law in India does not permit abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, unless there is danger to the mother’s life, the woman and husband may move Supreme Court to seek permission to abort the foetus. (Representational photo)

There is no known cure or standard treatment for anencephaly. Almost all babies born with the condition die shortly after birth. Most foetus with anencephaly die inside the womb. The prognosis of survival for babies born with this condition is a couple of hours. Anencephaly can be detected at 16 weeks of pregnancy through ultrasound.

As the law in India does not permit abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, unless there is danger to the mother’s life, the woman and husband may move Supreme Court to seek permission to abort the foetus.

“The woman had learnt about anencephaly during the 19th week of pregnancy after an ultrasound to check the baby’s health, at a civic hospital,” said Dr Nikhil Datar, a gynaecologist from Goregoan.

“The woman and her husband are poor. He works as a daily wage labourer. Hence, the couple couldn’t afford abortion then,” he added.

Sneha Murkhejee, a lawyer who has helped people file such cases, said the court allowed abortion in six out of eight cases in which the woman had crossed the abortion deadline and the foetus was diagnosed with anomalies.