SC rejects woman's plea for termination of 26-week pregnancy

The Chief Justice headed the Supreme Court Bench dismissed a woman’s petition seeking permission to terminate her 26-week-long pregnancy on Monday. Chief Justice D.Y Chandrachud said, allowing termination of pregnancy will be a violation of Sections 3 and 5 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act as there is no immediate danger to the mother, and this is not a case of foetal abnormality. He said, we cannot stop the heartbeat.

 

The top court bench also included Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.  Under the MTP Act, the upper limit for the termination of



pregnancy is 24 weeks.

 

Earlier, the Supreme Court had on the 9th of October permitted the woman to proceed with the medical termination of her pregnancy after she claimed that she was suffering from post-partum depression and was not in a position to raise a third child.

 

The Centre, however, filed a separate petition seeking a recall of this order, citing the advice of a panel of doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) against abortion in such an advanced stage.