Right to terminate pregnancy cannot be denied: Delhi HC

Right to terminate pregnancy cannot be denied: Delhi HC

A petition was filled in the Delhi High Court seeking termination of the pregnancy beyond 20 weeks of gestation period.

However the Delhi High court bench comprising of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar dismissed the petition saying that right to terminate pregnancy cannot be denied merely because the gestation period has extended more than 20 weeks. Court claimed that there can be circumstances where it would be wrong and unjust to deny the permission to undergo a medical treatment.
While giving the above said decision the Delhi HC referred to the decision of Hon’ble Supreme Court Of India given in 2018 in Tapasya Umesh Pisal v. Union Of India and ors., in this case termination of pregnancy was allowed because if the foetus was allowed to born he would have had limited life and born with such handicaps which cannot be avoided.

Further the court went one step ahead and contended that the rigour of section 3 (2) of the Medical termination of pregnancy act 1971 should be relaxed even if the case where condition of foetus is incompatible with life.

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While giving this decision the court has cleared its position of letting a woman decide what to do with her body with only limited or supervisory control of law . This has been a landmark judgement as today when most of the countries are placing a blanket ban on abortion , Indian courts have taken a progressive approach in this issue