SC rejects termination of minor’s pregnancy

‘Abortion after 32 weeks risky’

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to allow termination of a minor girl’s 32-week pregnancy after a medical board cautioned that an abortion at this stage could be risky for the rape victim from Chandigarh.

The court, however, asked government hospital doctors to give the best treatment to the girl to enable her to deliver the child.

Acting on a writ petition filed by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, a bench of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said: “In view of the recommendations made by the medical board in its report, it would neither be in the interest of the girl child nor the alive foetus, which is approximately 32-weeks-old, to order abortion.”

The decision came on a day when the court’s another bench of Justices Dipak Misra and A.M. Kanwilkar permitted termination of a 24-week pregnancy of a girl in Mumbai after a team of doctors pointed out that the foetus was suffering from abnormalities.

For the Chandigarh girl, the court had on July 24 asked the medical board to examine the pregnant girl for feasibility of an abortion.

The advocate had sought the court’s intervention after doctors refused to terminate the pregnancy, caused by repeated rape by the girl’s uncle.

He urged the court to frame guidelines for constituting permanent

Continued from Page 1 medical boards in each district for termination of pregnancies beyond 20 weeks in exceptional cases, particularly those involving child rape survivors.

Taking note of the submission, the bench asked solicitor general Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Central government, to consider enacting a law for setting up of a permanent medical board on pregnancy termination in each district government hospital in the states across the country.