Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: July 21 2022 at 16:10 IST
The Supreme Court passed an ad-interim order on Thursday allowing an unmarried woman to terminate her 24-week pregnancy that arised from a live-in relationship, subjected that a medical board constituted by AllMS Delhi finds that doing so can be done without risking the woman’s life.
When dismissing her petition for interim relief, the Delhi High Court “adopted an unduly restrictive view of the provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Rules,” according to a Bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud.
The Court noted that the word “partner” rather than “husband” in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act’s explanation of Section 3 shows the legislative intent to cover unmarried women under the Act.
The Court stated in the order that the Petitioner should not be denied the benefit merely because she is an unmarried woman. The bench observed that the intent of the Parliament was not to confine situations that arise from matrimonial relationships.
The Bench also comprises Justice Surya Kant who opined that it would be contrary to the object and spirit of the legislation to make petitioner to suffer an unwanted pregnancy.
The court was considering a 25-year-old unmarried woman’s plea for a pregnancy termination at 23 weeks and 5 days that resulted from a consensual relationship in against to the Delhi High Court’s order to refuse her the said relief.
The High Court had observed that it is clear that none of the clauses of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Rules, 2003 covers unmarried women whose pregnancy arises from a consensual relationship.
On July 16, 2022, a Division Bench comprising of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad had refused to grant her permission for an abortion.