Law permits abortion only up to 20 weeks: The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the response of the Centre and Maharashtra government within 24 hours over a rape survivor's distress plea to abort her 24-week pregnancy, citing serious abnormalities in the foetus. Identifying herself as 'Miss X' because of the social stigma attached to rape and unwed motherhood, the petitioner said she came from a poor background and the pregnancy was caused by her fiance who raped her on the promise of marriage and then married another woman. She has filed rape charges against the man.
She said she continued to suffer excruciating mental agony as the pregnancy resulted from rape and the foetus had serious abnormalities with slim chances of surviving the full term. The abnormality was revealed after the legally permissible 20-week period, she said in her plea, hence hospitals refused to terminate the pregnancy, forcing her to move the Supreme Court.
The case is somewhat similar to that of a teen rape survivor from Gujarat who moved the Supreme Court in July 2015 to abort after twenty weeks. After a medical evaluation, which also looked into her psychological health, the pregnancy was ended, seeking termination of pregnancy even though the foetus was more than twenty weeks old. In the case, the Supreme Court said a decision could be taken on the basis of a medical evaluation whether the foetus posed a threat to her health and if she was psychologically ready to be a mother.
In the case of 'Miss X', the plea cited abnormalities in the foetus as well as trauma from the alleged rape with the pregnancy being the result of a deception on the part of her former fiance. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 permits a woman to terminate her pregnancy till 20 weeks if two registered practitioners express unanimous opinion that continuation of pregnancy would threaten the mother's life or that the foetus has severe abnormalities.
Challenging the constitutional validity of Section. 3(2)(b) of MTP Act that imposes a 20-week restriction on abortion as a violation of woman's fundamental right, her counsel Colin Gonsalves told the Court that continuance of pregnancy despite knowing that the foetus had severe abnormalities was a violation of her fundamental right to life. A Bench comprising Justices J S Khehar, Kurien Joseph and Arun Mishra issued notice to the Centre and Maharashtra government with a 24-hour deadline. The Bench also assured the woman that it would like to take the opinion of a medical board on the health of the foetus before deciding on her plea for immediate termination of pregnancy.
The petitioner said because of the legal ban on termination of pregnancy after 20 weeks, those who detected severe abnormality of the foetus after 20 weeks generally sought unsafe abortion from untrained medical personnel, putting their lives at risk. "Illegal abortions are the third leading cause of maternal death in India and account for 13 percent of maternal deaths worldwide", she said.
Quoting a news report of September 2008, the petitioner said, "The government MTP Committee report from health secretary Naresh Dayal and former director of Indian Council of Medical Research Dr. N K Ganguly favoured increasing the time limit for legal abortion from 20 weeks to 24 weeks, but no such report was ever made public".
The petitioner also cited a recent proposal from National Commission for Women for amendment of the MTP Act to provide for abortion where 'pregnant woman is minor, pregnancy is result of rape or incest, pregnant woman is physically or mentally challenged, continuance of pregnancy would involve risk to the mother, foetus suffering grave abnormalities '.
She said countries like Albania, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, Israel, Nepal, Netherlands, South Africa, the UK and the US "do not include absolute time limits in their abortion laws. Instead, these countries consider the woman's physical and mental health and doctors' expert opinion in determining whether a medical termination of pregnancy can be performed post 20-week period".
How other countries deal with it?:
US: Abortion legal at any stage, even without consent of spouse. Law declared by Supreme Court in 1973 in Roe v. Wade.
UK: Abortion legal till 24 weeks under Abortion Act, 1967. Can be even later if doctors detect risk to mother's life or severe abnormalities in foetus.
Canada: No abortion beyond 24 weeks unless experts certify threat to mother's life or severe abnormalities in foetus.
France: Abortion legal till 14 weeks, but can be done at any stage if there is a risk to mother's life.
Germany: Abortion legal till 12 weeks. If mother's life is at risk, then up to 23 weeks.
Japan: Abortion permitted only if mother's life is at risk or pregnancy was caused by rape.
Brazil: Abortion only if mother's life is at risk or foetus severely abnormal.
Victim got no relief from High Court: With the Medical Board of AIIMS, New Delhi informing that it will be difficult to abort the 26-weeks-old foetus with HIV positive as it will be dangerous to the mother and the foetus, the Supreme Court on 09th May, 2017 (Tuesday) directed the Bihar government to pay Rs. 3 lakh to the victim of sexual assault and rape. The petitioner, a woman, aged about 35 years, sought termination of the pregnancy on the grounds that after being sexually assaulted, she was given rehabilitation in the Women Rehabilitation Centre, namely, 'Shanti Kutir', Mahila Punarwas Kendra, Pataliputra, Patna, Bihar, where her pregnancy was discovered.
It has also been found that she is HIV positive. She expressed desire to terminate the pregnancy on 04th March, 2017. Thereafter, she was examined by the Patna Medical College and Hospital. As nothing fruitful happened in the said college, the petitioner was compelled to move the Patna High Court. Subsequently, the High Court took up the matter for hearing and, after referring to certain decisions of this Court, came to hold that the Medical Board's report has stated that it would be unsafe to the life of the petitioner and further there is also compelling state's responsibility to keep the child alive.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Victim got no relief from High Court: With the Medical Board of AIIMS, New Delhi informing that it will be difficult to abort the 26-weeks-old foetus with HIV positive as it will be dangerous to the mother and the foetus, the Supreme Court on 09th May, 2017 (Tuesday) directed the Bihar government to pay Rs. 3 lakh to the victim of sexual assault and rape. The petitioner, a woman, aged about 35 years, sought termination of the pregnancy on the grounds that after being sexually assaulted, she was given rehabilitation in the Women Rehabilitation Centre, namely, 'Shanti Kutir', Mahila Punarwas Kendra, Pataliputra, Patna, Bihar, where her pregnancy was discovered.
It has also been found that she is HIV positive. She expressed desire to terminate the pregnancy on 04th March, 2017. Thereafter, she was examined by the Patna Medical College and Hospital. As nothing fruitful happened in the said college, the petitioner was compelled to move the Patna High Court. Subsequently, the High Court took up the matter for hearing and, after referring to certain decisions of this Court, came to hold that the Medical Board's report has stated that it would be unsafe to the life of the petitioner and further there is also compelling state's responsibility to keep the child alive.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment