New Delhi, July 3: In a landmark order, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed a Kolkata-based woman to abort her 25-week pregnancy on grounds of abnormalities. In a significant observation, the Supreme Court said in its order that a woman has sacrosanct right to he bodily integrity. The present rule allows abortion up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. The woman and her husband had challenged the constitutional validity of section 3(2)(b) of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, which prohibits abortion of a foetus after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Earlier last week, the court had asked the woman to examine the medical report on her health and apprise it of her stand. A panel of seven doctors was also set up to examine and ascertain the medical condition of the Kolkata-based woman. Taking into account the report of the seven-member medical board set up by the West Bengal government on its direction, a vacation bench of Justices AM Sapre and SK Kaul said it has perused the report.
The couple had in their plea seeking abortion attached a report suggesting that the foetus had suffered from serious abnormalities, including cardiac issues. The report had said that if the birth was allowed, the baby may not survive even the first surgery and moreover, the foetus could be fatal to the mother too.
Unexpected_reference on July 3rd, 2017 at 17:29 UTC »
Good, nuff said
tuneful_farrier on July 3rd, 2017 at 16:01 UTC »
Worth noting this was allowed based on the grounds of abnormalities in the fetus.
Doesn't seem to make it clear whether the current statute prohibiting abortions after 20 weeks will be changed in normal cases
on January 1st, 1970 at 00:00 UTC »