The Supreme Court on Thursday permitted two minor rape survivors to medically terminate their pregnancies on the advice of the medical boards which examined them.
The victims, a 13-year-old girl from Delhi and a 17-year-old from Bengaluru, had separately approached the apex court for permission to abort their pregnancies. They had both passed the 20th week of pregnancy, until which the law allows abortion.
Board of doctors
The 13-year-old was examined by a board of doctors from AIIMS, while the court ordered a medical team from the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute to examine the other victim.
Both medical teams had given opinions in favour of medical termination of the pregnancies. The 13-year-old was in her 23rd week of pregnancy and the Bengaluru-based victim in her 24th week.
The Bench, comprising Justices Amitava Roy and A.M. Khanwilkar, directed preservation of the terminated foetuses for DNA sampling during the investigation in both the cases.
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971 does not allow abortion if the pregnancy has crossed 20 weeks. Under the 1971 law, an exception to the 20-week cap can be made if a registered medical practitioner certifies to a court that the continued pregnancy is life-threatening for either the mother or the baby. This was meant to be a safeguard against female foeticide.
Chandigarh case
The court had recently denied permission to a 10-year-old rape survivor from Chandigarh to abort her foetus. Shortly after the court’s denial, the girl gave birth. The apex court awarded ₹10 lakh compensation to the girl.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising who is intervening in the Supreme Court in the issue, had argued that the delay in offering urgent medical help to such abused women and children have led to untold suffering for them.
For a 10-year-old, pregnancy is indeed a ‘life-threatening’ situation warranting immediate medical intervention under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971, the senior advocate had argued.
Medical boards
Recently, the Centre had written to the States and the Union Territories about the court’s suggestion to appoint permanent medical boards to provide rape survivors urgent access to medical care and to consider their requests for abortion.
The recent privacy judgment of a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court has observed that the right to reproductive choice of a woman is part of her fundamental right to privacy.
