New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday permitted the termination of a 24-week-old pregnancy after medical reports said the foetus has severe abnormalities and the same could gravely endanger the “mental and physical health” of the mother.
The bench comprising Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar and Justice Arun Mishra, after perusing the report of a medical board of KEM Hospital-Mumbai, said: “We direct the liberty to terminate the pregnancy by the pregnant mother in accordance with law.”
The report by a team of seven doctors came in pursuance to the court’s order on Friday to examine the pregnant mother and give its opinion on her plea seeking direction for the termination of the 24-week-old pregnancy.
The petitioner, a rape survivor from Mumbai, had told the SC that time was fast running out for her to abort the fetus, which had a slim chance of surviving the full term. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, per mits abortion within 20 weeks of pregnancy, after the concurrence of two registered medical practitioners. The SC permitted the termination of the pregnancy on the report of a medical board, which said that the continuance of pregnancy would gravely endanger the mother’s life.
