The Supreme Court faced a challenging issue of a woman’s plea to terminate her pregnancy in the 26th week of her being pregnant, concerning ways to strike a balance between rights of the unborn and a woman’s authority over her own body.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud made a statement that the rights of the unborn child, who is not represented in court, must be balanced. Certainly, the mother’s autonomy is to prevail in this situation, but in this scenario, the child is not being represented. How can one balance the rights of the unborn child was questioned by the Chief Justice, a day after a divided decision on the Centre’s plea to review on the earlier approval of abortion.
The woman who is a mother of two at present filed the petition requesting the Apex Court to terminate her third pregnancy, which is currently 26 weeks old, on the grounds that she is experiencing postpartum depression and will be unable to care for the third child in every aspect such as financially, emotionally and physically. Since the medical report said that the foetus has a strong chance of surviving, the Court today voiced severe apprehension about granting her application, adding that doing so might constitute foeticide.
The Bench composed of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud and two other Justices Manoj Mishra and J.B. Pardiwala, expressed their observations on the matter while considering a plea for an abortion by a married young woman aged 27-years who is currently 26 weeks pregnant.
The case at present is under the purview of the three-judge panel after the verdict of the two-judge bench comprising Justices Hima Kohli and B.V. Nagarathna. Justice Kohli had shown disapproval while Justice Nagarathna approved it after taking the petitioner’s choice into account.
Leading the three-judge bench, the CJI questioned the petitioner’s attorney about the petitioner’s inability to wait another couple of weeks because doing so would decrease the likelihood that the child would be born with serious defects. The matter will be taken up tomorrow again by the bench in the morning hours at 10:30 am.
Written by: Divyani Newar
College name: NEF Law College
5th Semester, 3 Year LL.B.
An intern under Legal Vidhiya
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