New Delhi, 15 May: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain the plea of a 20-year-old unmarried woman seeking termination of her over 27-week pregnancy, saying the foetus in the womb also has a fundamental right to live.
\nA bench headed by Justice B R Gavai passed the order while hearing the woman\u2019s plea challenging the Delhi High Court\u2019s May 3 order refusing to allow termination of her pregnancy.
\n\u201cWe can\u2019t pass any order contrary to the statute,\u201d the bench, also comprising justices S V N Bhatti and Sandeep Mehta, told her counsel.
\n\u201cThe child in womb also has a fundamental right to live. What do you say about that?,\u201d the bench asked.
\nThe woman\u2019s counsel said the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act talks about the mother only. \u201cIt is made for mother,\u201d he said.
\nThe bench said the duration of pregnancy was over seven months now. \u201cWhat about the right of the child to survive? How do you address that?\u201d the bench asked.
\nThe counsel said the foetus is in the womb and till the child is delivered, it is the right of the mother. \u201cThe petitioner at this stage is under severe traumatic condition. She can\u2019t come outside also. She is taking classes for NEET exam. She is under highly traumatic condition. She can\u2019t face the society at this stage,\u201d he said.
\nThe lawyer argued that her mental and physical well-being should be considered.
\n\u201cSorry,\u201d the bench said.
\nIn its May 3 order, the high court had noted that on April 25, the court had directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to constitute a medical board to ascertain the condition of the foetus and the petitioner.
\n\u201cA perusal of the report (of medical board) shows that there is no congenital abnormality in the foetus nor is there any danger to the mother to carry on with the pregnancy which will mandate termination of the foetus,\u201d the high court had said.
\n\u201cSince the foetus is viable and normal, and there is no danger to the petitioner to carry on with the pregnancy, foeticide would neither be ethical nor legally permissible,\u201d it had said. (PTI)
\nBefore the high court, the petitioner had said that on April 16, she felt discomfort in the abdomen and got an ultrasound scan done and it showed she was 27 weeks pregnant, which was beyond the legally permissible limit of 24 weeks.
\nUnder the MTP Act, termination of pregnancy of a duration exceeding 24 weeks can be allowed in case of substantial foetal abnormality as diagnosed by a medical board or if an opinion is formed in good faith for the purpose of saving the life of the pregnant woman. (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi, 15 May: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain the plea of a 20-year-old unmarried woman seeking termination of her over 27-week pregnancy, saying the foetus in the womb also has a fundamental right to live. A bench headed by Justice B R Gavai passed the order while hearing the woman\u2019s plea […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-240443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-national"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}