Reproductive choice a dimension of woman's personal liberty: Delhi High Court allows termination of 28-week pregnancy

The Delhi High Court recently permitted a 28-week pregnant woman to go ahead with the medical termination of her pregnancy, owing to a substantial foetal abnormality..While doing so, Justice Jyoti Singh held,"As repeatedly held by the Courts, in the judgements referred above, reproductive choice is a facet of reproductive rights of a woman and a dimension of her ‘personal liberty’, enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of India and thus the Petitioner cannot be deprived of the freedom to take a decision to continue or not to continue with the pregnancy, in the backdrop of the foetal abnormalities brought forth in the Medical Opinion of the Board.".The Court recognised the fact that the woman's foetus was suffering from a rare congenital heart disease and that continuing with the pregnancy could cause serious injury to her mental health.The woman had approached the Court for permission to terminate her 28-week long pregnancy, which is beyond the permissible period of 24 weeks as prescribed under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971.While arriving at its decision, the Court relied on a report prepared by the medical board constituted in the case. The report had stated if the child were to be born, it would be susceptible to repeated cardiac surgeries on account of the congenital disorder. In this light, the order stated,"The opinion indicates that the entire life of the child, if born, would largely depend on the clinical condition and quality of medical care provided to the child. Thus, lack of compatibility of the foetus with a healthy and normal life is looming large. The mental frame of the Petitioner, a mother, in such circumstances, in taking a tough call to terminate pregnancy, is perhaps understandable.".The Court thus granted the petitioner permission to take the final decision to undergo the procedure of medical termination of her pregnancy..Advocates Sneha Mukherjee and Surabhi Shukla represented the petitioner. Additional Standing Counsel Hetu Arora Sethi and Advocate Siddarth Aggarwal appeared for the State..[Read Order]