Supreme Court allows unmarried woman to terminate pregnancy at 24 weeks, overrules Delhi HC order
India Today
The Supreme Court on Thursday said that an unmarried woman can abort a 24-week pregnancy arising out of a consensual relationship. The top court said that the Delhi High court had taken an unduly restrictive view.
The Supreme Court on Thursday passed an ad-interim order to allow an unmarried woman to abort her pregnancy of 24-weeks arising out of a consensual relationship, subject to a medical board constituted by the All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi concluding that the foetus can be aborted without risk to the life of the woman.
A bench headed by Justices D Y Chandrachud observed that the Delhi High Court took an unduly restrictive view of the provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Rules while declining the woman's interim relief.
"Petitioner should not be denied the benefit merely on the ground that she is an unmarried woman", the Court observed in its order.
The bench was considering the petition filed by a 25-year-old unmarried woman, seeking termination of her pregnancy of 24 weeks which had arisen out of a consensual relationship against Delhi High Court's order of refusing to grant her the said relief.
The bench further noted that after the 2021 amendment, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act uses the word partner instead of husband in the explanation to Section 3, the court said that this shows the legislative intent to cover unmarried woman under the Act.
The bench observed that the parliamentary intent is not to confine the benefits to situations arising out of matrimonial relationships. It noted that a widow or a divorcee woman is allowed to terminate the pregnancy at the term of 20-24 weeks.
The bench held that allowing the petitioner to suffer an unwanted pregnancy will be contrary to the object and spirit of the legislation.
