The Supreme Court today allowed a 14-year-old rape survivor to undergo abortion at nearly 29 weeks of pregnancy, mentioning that continuing the pregnancy may harm the physical and mental health of the girl.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala remarked that these are exceptional cases where they have to protect the children and that every passing hour is very crucial for her. Subsequently, the bench directed safe abortion of the minor.
In an urgent hearing on Friday, the bench ordered Mumbai’s Sion Hospital to immediately determine whether continuing pregnancy could endanger the physical or mental health of the girl or the foetus and to report the same by Monday.
The survivor’s mother approached the Supreme Court after the Bombay High Court on April 4 rejected the request for a medical termination of the pregnancy. Appearing for the Centre, Additional solicitor-general Aishwarya Bhati on Monday urged the bench to invoke its extraordinary powers under Article 142 to do complete justice in the case, mentioning the medical report that noted that continuing the pregnancy may impact the minor’s well-being.
Admitting her plea, the court exercised its power under Article 142 to order immediate termination of the pregnancy of the minor, specifying her age and the alleged sexual assault.
Directing a panel of doctors at Sion’s Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and General Hospital in Mumbai to carry out the termination of pregnancy, the court underlined that bearing in mind the exigency of the situation and well-being of the minor, it set aside the order of the Bombay High Court. The counsel representing the Maharashtra government undertook to bear the medical expenses for the medical procedure.
Earlier on Friday, the bench noted the absence of a detailed assessment of the girl’s physical and mental condition in the medical reports, stressing the need for such consideration given the traumatic circumstances of her pregnancy. On the same day, the court had instructed that a medical board of doctors at Sion Hospital would evaluate on Saturday the implications of continuing pregnancy on the minor’s health, considering the sexual assault she endured.
Notably, under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, abortions past 24 weeks are typically prohibited unless the pregnancy poses a severe threat to the woman’s life or involves substantial fetal abnormalities.