News Analysis India

Tag: abortion

  • HC allows 12-year-old rape victim to abort foetus; Says forcing pregnancy will breach her fundamental rights

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Monday permitted a 12-year-old victim of rape and sexual assault to undergo medical termination of her pregnancy, which was a result of this assault, despite the pregnancy being beyond the permissible 20-week limit and the foetus having only minor abnormalities.

    A vacation bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla and Abhay Ahuja took note of the mental anguish and trauma the minor girl would have to undergo if forced to carry the pregnancy to full term.

    It also cited an April 2019 order passed by another Bombay HC bench, which had held that if a pregnancy posed injury to a woman’s mental health, then forcing her to continue with such pregnancy would be in breach of her fundamental right to life.

    It said the 2019 order had “correctly held that in a situation where continuation of pregnancy poses grave injury to the physical and mental health of the mother, the pregnant mother could not be forced to continue with the pregnancy merely because it had extended beyond the ceiling of 20 weeks”.

    “The same would be a serious afront to fundamental rights of such mother to privacy, to exercise reproductive choices, and even to her bodily integrity as also dignity,” Justice Kathawalla’s bench quoted from the 2019 order.

    The vacation bench was presiding over a plea filed by the victim’s father.

    It noted the victim was currently admitted in the state-run JJ hospital in the city, and a panel of doctors there had examined her and concluded that while “only minor anomaly is detected in the foetus of the pregnant minor mother”, she “is anguished with the pregnancy.”

    The JJ hospital panel had also told HC that the continuation of the pregnancy was likely to have an adverse psychological impact on the minor.

    The HC vacation bench further noted, in the present case, the medical board had also clearly opined that the minor was anguished with the pregnancy and its continuation may lead to complications during labour.

    “It is further opined the continuation of such an unwanted pregnancy will have physical and mental stress to minor as well as have a psychological impact,” HC said.

    It directed JJ hospital authorities to provide counselling and requisite medical aid to the victim and to perform the MTP procedure.

    The bench also directed the Maharashtra government to immediately place the FIR registered in the rape case, the victim’s medical report and other related documents before the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to ensure the victim is provided compensation and aid promised under the state’s ‘Manodhairya] scheme.

  • Domestic violence ground for pregnancy termination, says HC; allows woman to abort 23-week-old foetus

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court has allowed a woman to abort her 23-week-old healthy foetus, while observing that domestic violence has an effect on a woman’s mental health and the same can be a valid ground for medically terminating her pregnancy.

    The judgement was passed by a bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Madhav Jamdar on August 3 and a copy of it was made available on Tuesday.

    The HC in its order also referred to the reproductive rights of women, as envisaged by the WHO.

    The 22-year-old woman, a victim of domestic violence, had been examined by a panel of experts at the state-run J J Hospital in Mumbai.

    The panel held that while her foetus was healthy and had no abnormalities, the woman had undergone much mental trauma and continuation of the pregnancy would add to such trauma.

    In her plea, the woman told the HC that she and her husband were getting divorced and she did not wish to continue with the pregnancy.

    The current Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act does not permit termination of a pregnancy beyond 20 weeks, unless it poses health risks for the foetus and the mother.

    However, various apellatte courts as well as the Bombay HC have batted for women’s mental health on several previous occasions and permitted termination of a pregnancy beyond 20 weeks, if it poses a risk to a woman’s mental health and if a medical panel so advises.

    An amendment to the Act, which is yet to be implemented, extends the time frame to 24 weeks.

    In the present case, the HC said, “If contraception failure leading to pregnancy can be presumed to constitute grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman, can it be said that a pregnant woman suffering from domestic violence would not face grave injury to her mental health if pregnancy is allowed to continue in the face of continuing domestic violence with a grim foreseeable future?” Referring to the reproductive rights of women as envisaged by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the bench said,

    “The core issue is the control a woman has or exercises over her own body and reproductive choice. Control over reproduction is a basic need and a basic right of all women. Linked as it is to women’s health and social status, it is from the perspective of poor women or women of rural areas that this right can be best understood.”

    The HC further said, “Rape is an instance of extreme violence committee on a woman. Domestic violence is also a violence committee on a woman, though the degree might be lesser.”

    It noted that the petitioner had said in her plea that in the event the child was born, she would not receive requisite financial and emotional support from her husband.

    “In such circumstances, we are of the view that declining permission to the petitioner will tantamount to compelling her to continue with her pregnancy, which in the circumstances will not only become extremely burdensome and oppressive on her, but has the potential to cause grave injury to her mental health,” the high court said.

    The bench permitted the petitioner woman to undergo termination of the pregnancy at the Cooper Hospital in Mumbai.

  • Chhattisgarh HC allows minor rape victim to terminate pregnancy

    By PTI
    BILASPUR: The Chhattisgarh High Court has granted permission to a 15-year-old rape victim to terminate her less than 20-week pregnancy, an official said on Wednesday.

    A single bench of Justice Goutam Bhaduri on Tuesday passed the order directing that the victim is entitled to medical termination of pregnancy, the petitioner’s lawyer Anis Tiwari said.

    In the order, Justice Bhaduri said that it is obvious that if the victim was subjected to rape and if she is forced to give birth to a child, she would have to face a lifelong anguish, besides the fact that the child would also have to face disdain of the society, the lawyer said.

    The court further stated that in order to carry out the abortion, the state government will have to form a panel of expert doctors at the district hospital in Korba as early as possible, and the hospital must take due care of the victim’s health and provide her all the medical support.

    The court also directed that the DNA of the foetus should be preserved considering the fact that the victim has lodged a complaint of rape, and the information may be required at a future date, Tiwari said, adding that the girl has been directed to appear at the district hospital in Korba on July 14.