'We can't kill a child': Supreme Court on plea to terminate 26-week pregnancy

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, October 12

Noting that there are rights of an unborn child, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked a 27-year-old married woman seeking to terminate her 26-week pregnancy to reconsider her decision.

Case hearing so far

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Oct 9 Two-judge SC Bench allows termination of pregnancy

Oct 10 Centre cities AIIMS docs’ opinion that foetus has chance of being born, seeks recall of order

Oct 11 SC judges deliver a split verdict on woman’s petition

Oct 12 3-judge Bench against stopping of foetal heartbeat, asks advocate to talk to petitioner

Oct 13 To further hear Centre’s plea seeking recall of order

A three-judge Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati and the woman’s advocate to talk to her and persuade her to carry the pregnancy for a few more weeks so that the child isn’t born with deformities — physical or mental.

‘Family planning an obligation’

When it comes to planning a family, each citizen has an equal obligation to discharge in the interests of society and country. SC Bench

As Bhati submitted the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) medical board had said the foetus had a viable chance of being born and they would have to conduct a foeticide, the Bench made it clear it won’t direct the doctors to “stop the foetal heartbeat”.

“We can’t kill the child,” said the Bench, which also included Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, posting the Centre’s petition seeking recall of the October 9 termination of pregnancy order for further hearing tomorrow.

“Do you want us to tell the doctors at AIIMS to stop the foetal heart?” the Bench asked the petitioner-counsel who answered in the negative.

The Bench, however, said it had to strike a balance between rights of the “living and viable foetus” with the mother’s right of decisional autonomy. The matter came to the three-judge Bench after two woman judges of the SC on Wednesday delivered a split verdict on the woman’s petition.

A Bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice BV Nagarathna, which had on Monday allowed termination of the woman’s pregnancy, heard the Centre’s recall petition. The Centre contended the AIIMS doctors, who examined the petitioner, were of the opinion the foetus had a chance of being born. While Justice Kohli was against termination of pregnancy, Justice BV Nagarathna stuck to her original decision, saying the woman had remained determined to abort it. Despite AIIMS doctors saying the foetus had a chance of being born, the petitioner — a mother of two — insisted she wanted to terminate her pregnancy. Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, the upper limit for termination of pregnancy is 24 weeks for married women, special categories, including survivors of rape and other vulnerable women such as those differently-abled and minors. Since the petitioner had crossed the statutory 24-week period, she had to move court for permission to terminate her pregnancy.

No plan to reopen Marion Biotech: UP govt

• The Uttar Pradesh Government on Thursday termed as baseless a Reuters report on the state planning to reopen Marion Biotech in Noida, which was linked to the deaths of 18 Uzbek kids on account of allegedly contaminated exported cough syrups
• “A misleading media report has been circulated regarding Marion Biotech, Noida. No manufacturing activity will take place at the firm. No production has started at the firm since December 27, 2022, when it was shut,” sources said