AIIMS challenges Delhi HC order on minor’s 27-week pregnancy

AIIMS told the court that aborting the pregnancy at this stage would amount to foeticide and was legally permissible only in cases involving risk to the mother’s life or severe foetal anomalies.

Image used for representational purposes only. FILE Photo | ANI

NEW DELHI: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Thursday moved the Delhi High Court challenging a single judge’s June 30 order allowing the termination of a 16-year-old rape survivor’s 27-week pregnancy, warning that such a procedure could seriously impact her future reproductive health.

A division bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Anish Dayal took up the urgent appeal and later modified the earlier order, directing that the pregnancy be continued based on the AIIMS medical board’s recommendation.

AIIMS, represented by Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, told the court that aborting the pregnancy at this stage would amount to foeticide and was legally permissible only in cases involving risk to the mother’s life or severe foetal anomalies. The medical board found the girl physically stable and said a pre-term delivery now would be unsafe and require a caesarean section, which could affect her reproductive future.

Initially, the girl and her family were unwilling to continue with the pregnancy. However, after the bench asked the survivor’s counsel and mother to consider the medical board’s view and the option of post-delivery adoption, the court was informed that the minor had agreed to carry the pregnancy to term.

“The situation is very unfortunate and precarious,” the bench said, directing that the girl be kept at AIIMS for the remainder of the pregnancy and receive free care for five years.

The court also asked the Delhi government to file an affidavit detailing support for the survivor and the child.

The minor’s ordeal, her lawyer said, began during Diwali in 2024 when she was first sexually assaulted but did not inform anyone. She was assaulted again in March this year by another man, which led to her pregnancy.

She only discovered her condition after visiting a doctor with her sister, and later confided in her family, who then approached the police. A police case was filed in June, after the statutory 24-week MTP window had lapsed.