Allow 10-yr-old rape survivor to abort 26-week pregnancy: SC's notice to Centre

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre and others on a plea seeking its permission to allow a 10-year-old rape survivor to terminate her 26-week-old pregnancy.

A bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud asked the member secretary of Chandigarh Legal Services Authority to assist it as an amicus curiae and get the rape survivor examined by a board of doctors on July 26.

The bench also said the medical board will have to examine the aspect whether if they allow the girl to abort the foetus, then what could be the possible risk on her life.

It has asked the member secretary to ensure that the rape survivor



and one of her parents are accorded proper transportation facility for her examination at PGI, Chandigarh.

The court has now fixed the matter for hearing on July 28, and said the medical report be filed in a sealed cover before it and asked the counsel for the rape victim to provide her address to the member secretary instantly.

The PIL was filed after a Chandigarh district court on July 18 refused to let the girl undergo the abortion after it was confirmed that she was 26-weeks-pregnant.

Courts allow medical termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and can make an exception if the foetus is genetically abnormal.