LI Network
Published on: October 17, 2023 at 10:55 IST
The Delhi High Court has directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to establish a medical board to evaluate a woman’s request for terminating her 22-week pregnancy. The decision comes after the woman decided to separate from her husband through divorce.
Justice Subramonium Prasad underscored the necessity of a Medical Board to assess the safety of the pregnancy termination procedure, considering the woman’s well-being and the conditions of the fetus.
The court specifically instructed AIIMS in New Delhi to promptly form the Medical Board. Furthermore, the court ordered the board to provide its report within 48 hours.
This decision stems from the plea of a 31-year-old woman who discovered her single intrauterine pregnancy just a month after getting married in June. The woman asserted that she had been subject to verbal, physical, mental, and emotional abuse by her husband from the early stages of their marriage. Allegedly, she endured physical assault from her husband twice, once in July and again in August, when she was three months pregnant. Since August, the woman has been residing with her parents and wishes to terminate the pregnancy.
Although the court granted relief to the woman, it noted that she had not filed any FIR against her husband regarding the physical abuse nor initiated any divorce or judicial separation proceedings.
However, the court referenced the Supreme Court’s stance in X v. Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, Govt. of NCT of Delhi and Another. This case emphasized a woman’s prerogative to evaluate her life and make decisions based on changes in her circumstances.
The Apex Court stated that changes in material circumstances could occur when a woman separates from her partner and may lack the financial resources to raise a child. Therefore, a woman is allowed to terminate her pregnancy up to 24 weeks under the grounds of a change in marital status during an ongoing pregnancy.
The court also ordered the woman’s husband to be impleaded and served notice. The case is scheduled for further proceedings on October 19.
