Supreme court decided to hear the plea of a alleged rape victim challenging the constitutional validity of section 3 (2) (b) of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 (MTP), the Indian abortion law which prohibits termination of pregnancy after 20 weeks even if there was a fatal risk to the mother and the foetus.
The issue of discussion is whether after 20 weeks of pregnancy foetus could be aborted if foetus and mother are in danger.
Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves and Satya Mitra mentioned the matter for urgent hearing, saying that in the victim is 26 year old lady and is pregnant for 20 weeks her life is in grave denager, wh she moved to hospital doctors denied to abort saying that it is violation of sec 3(2)(b) of the medical termination of pregnancy Act 1971.
It is a ray of hope for many women who are forced every year to give birth to the abnormal or still born babies. As per a WHO estimate, Out of the 26 million births that occur in India every year, approximately 2-3 per cent foetuses have a severe congenital or chromosomal abnormality.
Senior lawyer Colin Gonsalves and Sarita Barpanda of the Human Rights Law Network said in the petition: The 20 week period may have been reasonable when the section as enacted in 1971 but has ceased to be reasonable today where technology has advanced and it is perfectly safe for a woman to abort even up to the 28th week and thereafter”.They further said “Determination of fetal abnormality in many cases can only be done after the 20th week and by keeping the ceiling artificially low, women who obtain reports of serious fetal abnormality after the 20th week have to suffer excruciating pain and agony on account of the deliveries that they are forced to go through. The ceiling of 20 weeks is therefore arbitrary, harsh and discriminatory and violative of right to equality and right to life of the Constitution”,
Following were the prayers of the petitioner:
1.For a writ of declaration or any other appropriate writ, order or direction quashing section 3(2)(b) of The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 971 to the limited extent that it stipulates a ceiling of 20 weeks for an abortion to be done under section 3, as ultra vires Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India;
2.For a writ of declaration or any other appropriate writ, order or direction quashing section 5(1) of the Act to the limited extent that it restricts abortions under section 5 to a restricted field where it is immediately necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman;
3.For a declaration to the effect that the expression “save the life of the pregnant woman” in Section 5 of the MTP Act includes “the protection of the mental and physical health of the pregnant woman” and also incorporates situations where serious abnormalities in the fetus are detected after the 20th week of pregnancy.
4.For a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, directing the Centre to allow the Petitioner under a Medical Termination of the Pregnancy.
by: PRIYANKA GANGWAR
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