NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the plea of a married woman seeking termination of her 26-week pregnancy, putting an end to a puzzle involving “the rights of an unborn child” and the “choice of the mother.” A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud concluded on the basis of a medical board report from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), stating the pregnancy does not pose an immediate danger to the life of the woman and the healthy foetus.
It asked the hospital to extend all medical help to the woman to complete her pregnancy. “The pregnancy is 26 weeks and 5 days. Allowing termination of pregnancy will be a violation of sections 3 and 5 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act as there is no immediate danger to the mother, and this is not a case of foetal abnormality,” the bench said.
The 27-year-old woman, a mother of two children, claimed that she was “neither physically, mentally, psychologically or financially prepared to continue” with the unwanted pregnancy. The court also dismissed an option to prematurely deliver the underdeveloped child. The SC said the state may take care of the child after the birth if the parents do not want the baby.
Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, the upper limit for the termination of pregnancy is 24 weeks for married women, special categories including survivors of rape, and the differently-abled and minors. Earlier too the CJI had remarked that “we cannot kill the child” as the court grappled with the moral dilemma over whether to order the child’s birth or respect the mother’s choice.