Denied abortion of 27-week-foetus: In India, reproductive autonomy remains a pipedream

Source: This post has been created based on the article “Denied abortion of 27-week-foetus: In India, reproductive autonomy remains a pipedream” published in The Indian Express on 19^th October 2023.

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper 2 Social Justice — Mechanisms, laws, institutions and bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of the vulnerable sections.

News: This article discusses the recent Supreme Court case on abortion of a 26-weeks old foetus.

Rest of the aspects of this news have been already covered in the following article: https://forumias.com/blog/in-sc-questions-of-foetal-viability-and-rights-of-unborn-child/

The contentious issue in this case was that it is a 26-weeks pregnancy, beyond the permissible gestational limit prescribed in the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 2021.

What are the arguments in favour of allowing abortion in this particular case?

Her request was a matter of right over individual bodily autonomy, to exercise a reproductive choice, and seeking support from the State for safe abortion services. These demands have been endorsed by India in the 1994 Cairo Declaration on Population and Development.

Justice D Y Chandrachud’s observation in the 2022 Ms X case that “every pregnant woman has the intrinsic right to choose to undergo or not to undergo abortion without any consent or authorisation from a third party”, underscoring reproductive autonomy.