MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court initiated suo motu proceedings based on a newspaper report that stated that the proposal to amend Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 was pending. The proposal drafted by the Union Health Ministry in 2014 seeks to increase the upper gestation limit for termination of pregnancies in cases of abnormal foetus or pregnancy due to sexual assault.
The litigation states that the doctors are finding it difficult to diagnose the abnormalities or substantial risk or serious physical handicap to the foetus within 20 weeks as the cases are being reported very late.
A bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and SS Sundar admitted the litigation and issued notice to Central and State Health departments, MCI and National Commission for Women.