Supreme Court dismisses woman's plea to terminate 26-week pregnancy: 'No danger to...'
The apex court said that the parents of the woman can make the decision of whether to give the child up for adoption.
- Oct 16, 2023,
- Updated Oct 16, 2023 4:01 PM IST
The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday rejected a married woman’s request to terminate her 26-week pregnancy, saying that it could not approve an abortion request at this stage of pregnancy since there is no danger to the woman’s life. The court said that the parents of the woman can make the decision of whether to give the child up for adoption.
"The pregnancy is of 26 weeks and 5 days. Thus, permitting termination of pregnancy would violate Sections 3 & 5 of the MTP Act since there is no immediate threat to the mother in the matter and this is not a case of foetal abnormality,” the Chief Justice of India (CJI) said as per India Today.
The woman had sought termination of her pregnancy on the grounds that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. During the hearing, CJI DY Chandrachud said that the court went through the AIIMS report.
"She has been suffering from postpartum psychosis. She is taking medication which is not affecting the child adversely and they have prescribed an alternate regime for treatment so that there is no danger to the child and no abnormality has been detected in the child."
Advocate Amit Mishra, who appeared for the petitioner, said that as per Section 5 of the MTP Act (Medical Termination of Pregnancy), a pregnancy can be terminated even if it has lasted beyond 24 weeks if the "termination of such pregnancy is immediately necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman".
To this, the CJI said that if 'life' under Section 5 was given the same interpretation as 'life' under Article 21, it would defeat the purpose of Section 3 of the MTP Act. "You are saying interpret 'life' to mean life that is meaningful...so you want to give her this overriding power even in the 37th week, that cannot be done."
The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday rejected a married woman’s request to terminate her 26-week pregnancy, saying that it could not approve an abortion request at this stage of pregnancy since there is no danger to the woman’s life. The court said that the parents of the woman can make the decision of whether to give the child up for adoption.
"The pregnancy is of 26 weeks and 5 days. Thus, permitting termination of pregnancy would violate Sections 3 & 5 of the MTP Act since there is no immediate threat to the mother in the matter and this is not a case of foetal abnormality,” the Chief Justice of India (CJI) said as per India Today.
The woman had sought termination of her pregnancy on the grounds that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. During the hearing, CJI DY Chandrachud said that the court went through the AIIMS report.
"She has been suffering from postpartum psychosis. She is taking medication which is not affecting the child adversely and they have prescribed an alternate regime for treatment so that there is no danger to the child and no abnormality has been detected in the child."
Advocate Amit Mishra, who appeared for the petitioner, said that as per Section 5 of the MTP Act (Medical Termination of Pregnancy), a pregnancy can be terminated even if it has lasted beyond 24 weeks if the "termination of such pregnancy is immediately necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman".
To this, the CJI said that if 'life' under Section 5 was given the same interpretation as 'life' under Article 21, it would defeat the purpose of Section 3 of the MTP Act. "You are saying interpret 'life' to mean life that is meaningful...so you want to give her this overriding power even in the 37th week, that cannot be done."