New Delhi: In a welcome move, the Delhi High Court on Monday made an exception and allowed a woman’s plea to terminate her 28-week pregnancy after a medical board constituted by AIIMS gave a report suggesting abortion as her foetus had suffered from anencephaly, a condition where the skull bone is not formed, adding that it was incompatible with life.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh permitted the medical termination of the woman’s pregnancy based on the board’s report and disposed of her plea that stated.
The woman’s plea had stated “an ultra-sonography at the gestational age of 27 weeks 5 days found that the fetus suffered from anencephaly (skull bone not formed) thereby making it incompatible with life”. She had contended that with advances in technology it was perfectly safe for a woman to abort a fetus at any point during her pregnancy.
The court said a detailed order would be issued soon.
Notably, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971 prohibits abortion of a fetus after 20 weeks of gestation.
With PTI inputs