26 weeks pregnancy case: Supreme Court rejects woman’s plea for abortion
“Medical termination of pregnancy cannot be permitted,” CJI DY Chandrachud said while delivering the judgement.
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a woman’s plea seeking termination of her pregnancy beyond 26 weeks due to illness. “Medical termination of pregnancy cannot be permitted,” CJI DY Chandrachud said while delivering the judgement.
The state has been ordered to cover all the medical expenses. The court has made it clear that the decision whether to give the child for adoption or not is the mother’s own, the CJI said.
Earlier, the top court had reserved its order on the plea of a married woman who sought termination of a healthy fetus beyond 26 weeks due to her illness.
A bench headed by Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misa and headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that the latest report of the AIIMS Medical Board has confirmed that the petitioner is suffering from postpartum psychosis and there is no effect of her medication on the fetus. .
“Okay, we will look into it. The decision may come later today,” the bench said.
Earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court had sought a report from the AIIMS medical board on whether the 26-week-old fetus of a married woman seeking permission to terminate her pregnancy was suffering from any abnormality.
The court said, Though the previous report submitted by AIIMS has mentioned that the fetus is normal, yet, in order to put the matter beyond doubt, we request that another report be submitted on the above aspect.