‘Financial state, unpreparedness can’t be grounds to allow MTP’

MUMBAI:IN a significant order, the Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday rejected a petition filed by a 39-year-old Ratnagiri woman to undergo medical termination of her pregnancy, after it observed that the financial condition of a family or the mental unpreparedness of a woman to be a mother cannot be the grounds to allow termination under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971.

The woman, who is 24-weeks pregnant, moved HC stating that she learnt of her pregnancy belatedly, on May 14. She claimed that the pregnancy occurred owing to the failure of the contraceptive method and she did not suspect that she was pregnant because she has a history of irregular menstruation, owing to which the pregnancy was detected late.

She added that the pregnancy at her age may lead to various complications in her life and cause her physical and mental agony. The woman also claimed that she and her family were not in the financial condition to raise a child nor is she mentally prepared to become a mother under the given circumstances.

The bench of justice Ujjal

Bhuyan and justice Riyaz Chagla, however, refused to accept the grounds put forth by the woman from Ratnagiri district.

Failure of the contraceptive method under certain circumstances is a valid ground for MTP under the Act, but the bench said it was not applicable to this woman.

In this regard, the bench accepted the arguments advanced by additional government pleader MP Thakur that the ground will be available only to a married woman who already has a child. But the petitioner has no child, and hence there can be no limiting the number of children.