New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday set up a medical board to examine the condition of a 13-year-old rape survivor who is seeking permission to abort her 30-week-old foetus.
A Bench comprising Justices S.A. Bobde and L. Nageswara Rao directed that a medical board would be constituted at the Sir JJ Group of Hospitals to examine the minor girl and ascertain the condition and advisability of permitting abortion. “The aforesaid board shall submit a report about the condition and advisability of permitting a medical termination of pregnancy of the petitioner’s daughter forthwith,” the Bench said, and fixed the matter for hearing on August 31. The Bench also issued a notice to the Centre and directed that a copy of the plea be supplied to the Solicitor General.
Section 3(2)(b) of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act prohibits abortion of a foetus after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The minor girl’s mother, through advocate Sneha Mukherjee, had moved the apex court seeking its permission to terminate the pregnancy of her daughter.
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On July 28, the apex court had rejected a petition filed by another 10-year-old rape victim seeking its nod to terminate her 32-week-old pregnancy citing medical grounds.
The court’s order had come after taking note of a medical report that abortion would neither be good for the girl, nor for the foetus. The minor girl recently delivered the child in Chandigarh.
On August 10, the SC had allowed a city-based woman to terminate her 26-week-old pregnancy as her foetus suffered from a life-threatening affliction called anencephaly, a condition in which the baby is born without parts of the skull.
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