Supreme Court’s abortion ruling

Source: This post is based on the following articles:

a. “Supreme Court’s abortion ruling” published in Indian Express on 30th September 2022.

b. “Doctors need not report identity of minors seeking abortion, says Supreme Court” published in The Hindu on 30th September 2022.

c. ​​”Supreme Court axes 51-year-old curb, single women get equal abortion rights” published in The Hindu on 30th September 2022.

What is the News?

The Supreme Court has held that all women, irrespective of their marital status, are entitled to safe and legal abortion till 24 weeks of pregnancy under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act.

What was the case about?

A petition was filed in the Supreme Court by a 25-year-old unmarried woman seeking an abortion of her 24-week pregnancy after the Delhi High Court declined her plea. 

The woman’s case was that she wished to terminate her pregnancy as her partner had refused to marry her at the last stage.

The petitioner also argued that the continuation of the pregnancy would involve a risk of grave and immense injury to her mental health.

What does the current MTP Act say on this?

Currently, the MTP Act mandates the medical opinion of a doctor to terminate pregnancy up to 20 weeks while the advice of two doctors is needed for pregnancies between 20 and 24 weeks.

However, only certain categories of women are allowed to terminate their pregnancies in this extended time period of 20 to 24 weeks.

The certain categories include the cases of sexual assault, rape or incest, women whose marital status changed during pregnancy, mentally-ill women, women with physical disabilities, women with foetal malformation and women with pregnancy in humanitarian settings or disaster or emergency situations as may be declared by the Government.

What was the court’s judgment?

On unmarried women seeking abortion

The Supreme Court ruled that all women, regardless of their marital status are entitled to safe and legal abortion till 24 weeks of pregnancy. 

The court declared that prohibiting single or unmarried pregnant women from pregnancies between 20 and 24 weeks from accessing abortion while allowing married women with the same term of pregnancy to access the care was violative of the right to equality before the law and equal protection (Article 14).

The court also held that reproductive autonomy required every pregnant woman to have the intrinsic right to choose to have or not have to undergo an abortion without any consent or authorisation from a third party.

On minors seeking abortion

The Supreme Court exempted the registered medical doctors from disclosing to the police the identity of minors who have come in for the abortion.

Note: Currently, a registered medical practitioner (RMP) is obliged under Section 19(1) of the POCSO Act to report to the police when a minor approach him or her for an abortion.