Supreme Court Allows Abortion for 14-Year-Old Rape Survivor at 29 Weeks

Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, abortions past 24 weeks are typically prohibited unless the pregnancy poses a severe threat to the woman's life or involves substantial fetal abnormalities.

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The Supreme Court on Monday allowed a 14-year-old rape survivor to undergo an abortion at over 29 weeks of pregnancy, underlining that continuing the pregnancy may harm the physical and mental health of the minor girl.

“These are very, very exceptional cases where we have to protect the children…every passing hour is very crucial for her,” said a bench led by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, directing for the safe abortion of the minor.

The bench, also comprising Justice JB Pardiwala, had directed Mumbai’s Sion Hospital on Friday evening to immediately determine whether continuing the pregnancy could endanger the girl’s or the fetus’s physical or mental health and report back by Monday.

The girl’s mother had rushed to the Supreme Court after the Bombay High Court declined the request for a medical termination of the pregnancy on April 4.

On Monday, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Centre, urged the bench to invoke its extraordinary powers under Article 142 to do complete justice, citing a medical report that noted continuing the pregnancy may impact the minor’s well-being.

Accepting her plea, the court exercised its power under Article 142 to order the immediate termination of the minor’s pregnancy, specifying her age and the alleged sexual assault. “Bearing in mind the exigency of the situation and well-being of the minor, we set aside the order of the Bombay High Court,” said the bench, directing a panel of doctors at Sion’s Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and General Hospital in Mumbai to carry out the procedure.

The counsel appearing for the Maharashtra government undertook to bear the medical expenses.

For its April 4 order, the High Court had relied on an examination by a medical board of doctors from Mumbai’s JJ Hospital. However, the petition argued that the girl had not been adequately examined, leading to the Supreme Court’s involvement.

The Supreme Court bench had noted the absence of a detailed assessment of the girl’s physical and mental condition in the medical reports on Friday, emphasizing the need for such consideration given the traumatic circumstances of her pregnancy.

The court had instructed that a medical board at Sion Hospital would evaluate on Saturday the implications of continuing the pregnancy on the minor’s health, considering the sexual assault she endured.

Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, abortions past 24 weeks are typically prohibited unless the pregnancy poses a severe threat to the woman’s life or involves substantial fetal abnormalities.

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