India SC permits abortion at 24 weeks, says can't bar unmarried woman from having one
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed an unmarried woman whose relationship status changed during the pregnancy to abort her 24-week baby, highlighting the fact that a legal disparity between a married and an unmarried woman should have no influence on the ability to carry out the procedure.
The bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, Surya Kant and A S Bopanna said, “We are of the view that allowing the petitioner to suffer an unwanted pregnancy will go against the parliamentary intent and the benefits under the Act cannot be denied to her only on the basis of her being unmarried. The distinction between a married and an unmarried woman has no nexus to the object sought to be achieved by the Parliament.”
“Petitioner should not be denied the benefit merely on the ground that she is an unmarried woman,” the bench added. It stated that the order would depend on the final determination of a medical board established by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, that the woman's life would not be in danger if the foetus was aborted.
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The 25-year-old woman, a Manipur permanent resident who stays in Delhi right now, filed a petition with the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court last week rejected her request. It would "amount to killing the child," according to a two-judge Delhi High Court panel that included Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad.
The HC court stated that it cannot permit what the law forbids - access to pregnancy termination for an unmarried woman between 20 and 24 weeks on the grounds that her relationship status changed. The woman testified before the court that she and her partner had a consensual relationship that led to the pregnancy. She said she wanted to end the pregnancy since her partner wouldn't marry her. She also admitted to the court that she worried about being stigmatised for being a single, unmarried lady.
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(with inputs from agencies)