SC allows Mumbai woman to terminate 24-week pregnancy due to life risk

The 22-year-old woman presented a medical report which showed the pregnancy endangered her life, and that the foetus she was expecting had "very little chance of survival".

HIGHLIGHTS

• 1

  The woman is 24-weeks pregnant.
• 2

  Under the Pregnancy Act, 1971, she was prohibited to abort.
• 3

  Was allowed to go ahead with abortion as the pregnancy endangered her life

The Supreme Court on Monday granted a 24-week pregnant woman the right to go through with abortion due to the threat the pregnancy was posing to her life.

The Mumbai-based 22-year-old woman presented to the bench, consisting of Justices SA Bobde and L Nageswara Rao, her medical report which showed the pregnancy endangered her life, and that the foetus she was expecting had "very little chance of survival".

The report was overseen by a board of seven doctors from Mumbai's King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital, appointed by the SC to report about the woman's "condition and advisability of permitting a medical termination of pregnancy".

The board reported in favour of medical termination of the pregnancy as the foetus was diagnosed with a defect called anencephaly, in which parts of the skull are not adequately developed.

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Based of the board's reports, the SC bench allowed the woman to undergo abortion at 24-weeks, directing that the termination be done under the supervision of the board.

"In these circumstances, we consider it appropriate and in the interest of justice, particularly the right of the petitioner to preserve her life, that she be allowed to undergo the termination of pregnancy. The termination shall be done by the doctors of KEM hospital. Further the termination shall be supervised by the same medical board," the bench said.

"The foetus is not compatible to life outside uterus. In other words foetus would not be able to survive. Equally, rather more important, continuance of the pregnancy would endanger the physical and mental health of the petitioner," said the court.

MEDICAL TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY ACT, 1971

As per the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, a woman is not allowed to opt for medical abortion once her pregnancy has progressed beyond 20 weeks.

Due to this law, the unnamed woman in question was turned down by doctors when she chose to end her pregnancy, after which she approached the court.