The Supreme Court of India on Friday permitted a twenty-five-year-old unmarried woman to terminate a 24-week long pregnancy on medical advice and further stated that denying a woman the right and access to safe abortion based on her marital status violates her personal autonomy.
This decision also reflects on ways to extend the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, to all women regardless of their marital status so that they have access to medical termination of pregnancy beyond the period of 20 weeks. However, it does not allow pregnancy termination beyond 24 weeks.
A bench of D.Y. Chandrachud and J.B. Pardiwala said that there seems no logical reasoning to allow a married woman to do so under the MPT Act while denying unmarried women medical termination of pregnancy.
The Supreme Court of the country said, “There has to be a forward-looking interpretation of the (Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and rules) law in view of the advancements made in the medical field.”
The upper limit for terminating a pregnancy for a married woman is twenty-four weeks; for special categories such as survivors of rape and other vulnerable people, differently-abled people, and minors, the corresponding window for unmarried women in a consensual relationship is twenty weeks.
As Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said, “an unmarried woman who suffers a pregnancy beyond 20 weeks can suffer the same mental agony as a married woman. Why should she be excluded from termination for up to 24 weeks if a married woman is allowed to do it?”
“We have to also have ahead when there is so much development around this. We are responsible for jurisprudential evolution.”
In addition, the bench has asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, who appeared on behalf of the Union Health Ministry, to provide suggestions to assist the court in this exercise.
Citing the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, the apex court of the country highlighted that the amendment Act used the word “partner” and not “husband”. Therefore, “it concerns relationships outside marriage as well,” the court said.
Current case
A twenty-five-year-old woman had approached the apex court of India after the High Court of Delhi had denied her relief, as she told the court that the pregnancy had arisen out of a consensual sexual relationship and she had decided to terminate the pregnancy as her relationship failed.
Furthermore, the petitioner stated that she is a graduate and does not have a source of livelihood; hence, she would be unable to nurture a child. (The Indian Express)
(With ANI inputs)