Delhi HC issues notice in plea to allow Termination of Pregnancy at 24-26 weeks

The Delhi High Court has issued notice in a plea seeking to allow termination of pregnancy beyond the present legally permissible duration of twenty weeks..The petition seeks “necessary directions” to the Central Government to replace the permissible duration of twenty weeks of pregnancy under Section 3(2)(b) of Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 (MTP Act) with twenty-four/twenty-six weeks..Since the Act is silent on the termination of pregnancy of unmarried women and widows, the petition also seeks the addressal of the same and a declaration that they are equally entitled to terminate the pregnancy under the Act..Notice was issued by a Division Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Brijesh Sethi in a plea filed by petitioner-in-person, Advocate Amit Sahni..It is Sahni’s stance that Section 3(2)(b) of MTP Act, which sets twenty weeks as the maximum duration for a legally permissible abortion in India, is ultra vires the Constitution of India for being in violation of the Right to Privacy under Article 21..The MTP Act completely prohibits termination of pregnancy after twenty weeks of conception even if the fetus is suffering from any severe abnormality, the petition submits..However, most of the tests/scans for proper diagnosis of abnormalities are done in the twentieth week of pregnancy, it is stated..“…if the fetus is scanned and found positive with serious abnormalities viz. Down Syndrome or 21 Trisomy, Dextroversion, congenital malformation, microcephaly, spina-bifida or other genetic disorders etc., the woman is forced to carry pregnancy due to bar provided in section 3 (2) of MTP Act.”.The petitioner also informs the Court that many European countries including France, the UK, and Italy allow abortion after twenty weeks if fetal abnormalities are discovered..Twenty-three countries including Canada, Germany, and Vietnam allow abortion at any time if the request is based on social or medical reasons, it is further stated..Relying on studies and research papers, the petition mentions that in 2017, about 1.6 crore abortions were conducted in India. 81 percent of these abortions were conducted in an unsafe manner at home or by unregistered medical practitioners..It is also stated that thirteen women die every day due to unsafe abortions and seventeen lakh babies in India are born with birth defects which could be detected at the fetal stage..The petitioner also states that the issue was considered the National Commission for Women, which had advised the Central Government to push the time limit for abortion from twenty weeks of pregnancy to twenty-four weeks..Subsequently, the Central Government had even come up with a draft amendment – the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (amendment) Bill 2014- to extend the time limit to 24 weeks. The Bill was however not tabled in Parliament. Thus, the petitioner also seeks to know when the MTP Act would be changed as per the proposed amendment..The matter will be next heard on August 6..Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.