Woman forced to approach Delhi High Court for MTP at 20 weeks 1 day
Neha Devi v. Government of NCT of Delhi Writ Petition (Civil) No. 4140 of 2020 | Delhi High Court | Status: Disposed Of | |
This
Writ Petition seeks permission for Medical Termination of Pregnancy for the
Petitioner, Neha Devi who is pregnant at a gestation age of 20 weeks 1 day. The
Right to Abortion is governed by the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act,
1971. The Act defines, who, where and under what circumstances can provide and
avail medical termination of pregnancy. Section 3 (2) (b) of the Act sets 20
weeks of gestation as the limit beyond which a pregnant woman cannot seek termination.
The said provision also states that termination between 12 to 20 weeks can be
sought on two grounds, i) if the continuation of pregnancy involves risk to the
physical or mental health of the pregnant woman and ii) if the child were to be
born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be
seriously handicapped. The only exception to this is Section 5 (1) of the Act
which states that the limit prescribed in Section 3 of the Act will not apply
if two registered medical practitioners are of the opinion that termination of
pregnancy is necessary to save the life of the mother.
The
petitioner in the present case found out at 20 weeks 1 day that the fetus
suffers from multiple physical and mental abnormalities which make the fetus
incompatible with life. As the petitioner had crossed the gestation limit
prescribed in the Act by a mere 1 day, the petitioner was forced to approach
the Delhi High Court to seek permission for termination of pregnancy.
The
Hon’ble Delhi High Court directed All India Institute of Medical Sciences to
form a medical board and assess the petitioner and the condition of the fetus
to ascertain if it was safe for the petitioner to undergo a termination of
pregnancy. The said committee after assessing the petitioner and conducting
necessary test submitted a report confirming that the fetus suffered from
multiple physical and mental abnormalities and that it is safe for the
petitioner to undergo medical termination of pregnancy. Accordingly, the Court passed
final order in the matter allowing permission to the petitioner to undergo
medical termination of pregnancy.