Derailed marriage, strained relations between husband and wife not grounds to terminate pregnancy: Chhattisgarh High Court

The Chhattisgarh High Court recently held that a derailed marriage or a strained relationship between a husband and wife are not grounds to allow the abortion of a pregnancy under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. [XYZ v. State of Chhattisgarh].Justice P Sam Koshy, while denying permission to a 29-year-old lady to abort her pregnancy, also observed that abortion is considered as a crime in India. "The relationship of the petitioner getting strained with the husband or if the marriage life for some reason gets derailed, are not grounds which are permissible under Section 3 of the Act 1971," the Court's order stated..The Court noted that the petitioner-woman had not conceived the foetus because of any sex crime committed upon her, or without her consent and knowledge. It took into account the fact that the petitioner was a married lady and that she had not claimed that the pregnancy had occurred due to a person other than her husband. The couple had got married in November 2022. However, their relationship turned sour, leading the wife to approach the High Court to abort the foetus..The judge observed that if the Court were to start entertaining such petitions for the medical termination of pregnancy on account of such situations, the very object behind the enactment of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971 would get defeated..The Court added that abortion can only be done in "grave" situations."In India, abortion is considered to be a crime. The medical practitioners are restrained from carrying out abortion unless until the situation gravely requires the pregnant lady to undergo abortion. That too is only on the advice of a qualified medical practitioner, who upon medically examining the pregnant lady, reaches to the conclusion that there is an apparent danger to the life or risk to the physical and mental health of the pregnant lady," the order stated. Another situation where the medical termination of pregnancy is allowed is if there is a substantial risk that the child, once born, would suffer from serious deformities and diseases. With these observations, the Bench dismissed the plea. .Advocate Ritesh Verma appeared for the petitioner. Advocate Pawan Kesharwani represented the State. .[Read Order]