New Delhi: Two woman judges of the Supreme Court on Wednesday delivered a split verdict on a 27-year-old married woman’s petition seeking termination of her 26-week pregnancy after the Centre sought recall of their unanimous verdict allowing the woman to get her foetus aborted.
A Bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice BV Nagarathna—which had on Monday allowed termination of the woman’s pregnancy—had to hear the matter again after the Centre on Tuesday sought recall of the order on the ground that the AIIMS doctors—who examined the petitioner—were of the opinion that the foetus had a chance of being born.
While Justice Kohli was against termination of pregnancy, Justice BV Nagarathna disagreed. Despite AIIMS doctors saying that the foetus had a chance of being born, the petitioner woman—a mother of two – insisted that she wanted to terminate her pregnancy.
Now, CJI DY Chandrachud will set up a three-judge Bench to take up the matter tomorrow.
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 the court for permission to terminate her pregnancy.
During the pre-lunch hearing the Centre’s plea for the recall of its Monday’s order allowing abortion, the Bench expressed anguish over a fresh medical report on the strong possibility of survival of a foetus of a 26-week pregnant married woman, and wondered which court will say “stop the fetal heartbeat”.
”If the doctor could be so candid in two days short of the earlier report, why was not the (earlier) report more elaborate and more candid? Why were they being ambiguous in the earlier report?” the Bench asked ASG Bhati.
On Monday, a Bench of Justice Kohli and Justice Nagarathna had allowed termination of pregnancy. But the Centre on Tuesday sought recall of the order, saying the AIIMS doctors were of the opinion that the foetus had a chance of being born.
A day after allowing abortion of a 26-week pregnancy of a married woman, the Supreme Court had on Tuesday asked the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to defer the procedure after doctors said the foetus has a chance of being born.
Noting that AIIMS doctors were in a serious dilemma, CJI DY Chandrachud had asked the Justice Kohli-led Bench to take up the matter again on Wednesday.
Bhati submitted that the AIIMS medical board had claimed that the foetus had a viable chance of being born and they would have to conduct a foeticide.
Earlier, Justice Kohli-led Bench had allowed the mother of two children to proceed with the medical termination of her pregnancy after she claimed that she was suffering from postpartum depression and was not in a position to raise a third child – both emotionally and financially.
”This Court does recognise the right of a woman over her body and the fact that if an unwarranted pregnancy results in a child being brought into the world, a large part of the responsibility of rearing such a child will fall on the shoulder of the petitioner, which at this point she doesn’t consider herself fit for,” it had said even as the Centre opposed it.