‘It’s a woman’s choice to give birth’: Delhi HC allows woman to terminate her 33-week pregnancy

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The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said the “ultimate decision” in matters of abortion ought to recognise a woman’s choice to give birth and the possibility of dignified life of the unborn child while allowing a 26-year-old married woman to undergo medical termination of her 33-week pregnancy.

Justice Prathiba M Singh observed that while the right of a pregnant woman to terminate her pregnancy has been the subject matter of debate across the world, India recognises the choice of a woman in its law.

Justice Singh on Monday, while clarifying that she was not taking any view at the moment, also expressed her “ethical concern” in the matter and pondered upon the use of technology to detect any abnormalities in a foetus and thus, have only “prefect children”.

“There is one ethical concern that the court is thinking of and that is with technology. It is actually very easy to detect a number of abnormalities as of today. We are now almost talking of a full-term pregnancy (in this case),” the court said.

The court had earlier asked LNJP hospital to examine the petitioner and submit a report. However, the court on Tuesday said the medical board unfortunately did not give a “categorical opinion” on the degree of handicap or the quality of the life of the foetus after birth and thus opined that “such unpredictability ought to weigh in favour of the woman seeking termination of pregnancy”.

According to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, a pregnant woman needs court’s approval for an abortion if the foetus is over 24 weeks old.