The Supreme Court scheduled a special session on a holiday on Saturday to hear a petition from a rape survivor seeking an abortion of her foetus older than 27 weeks. The court stated that there needs to be a “sense of urgency” rather than a “lackadaisical attitude” when handling cases of pregnancy termination.
Crucial time lost
The bench led by Justice BV Nagarathna demanded a new medical report on the victim by Sunday and scheduled the case for a hearing as the first case on Monday in response to criticism leveled at the Gujarat high court for failing to recognise the crucial time lost in such cases.
“Valuable time has been lost between the high court’s order saying that the matter will be heard next on August 23 and its order receiving the medical report on August 11 when it was presented to the court…The high court has wasted 12 important days by delaying this case. According to the bench, which also featured Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, “In such cases, there must be a sense of urgency and not a lackadaisical attitude…adjourning it like a normal case.”
Although the medical report from August 10 supported the victim’s request for a safe abortion, the high court deferred the case for August 23 when it took up the report on August 11. The court chastised the high court for this action. Later, on August 17, the top court turned down her request without giving any explanations or issuing an order.
The bench then observed that the high court had “…lost sight of the fact that a delay of each day would be crucial in a case of the advanced stage of pregnancy, as well as the fact that there was no order released by the high court to corroborate the reasons behind the rejection of the plea by the 25-year-old woman.”
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It took note of the arguments put up by attorney Shashank Singh on behalf of the petitioner and ordered the Supreme Court’s secretary general to ask the Gujarat High Court’s registrar general whether the order should be posted on the court’s website. Singh claimed that the woman had initially filed a petition with the high court on August 7, but that on August 17 the petition was denied without a verbal order.
The bench then requested a new medical report on the victim’s current health and the viability of a safe abortion from a government hospital in Gujarat.
Medical health reports demanded
Please send the most recent medical report by tomorrow at 6 o’clock. On Monday, the same will be presented to this court. Monday, make this case the first item on the list. In the meanwhile, the state’s attorney will follow any directions that are necessary.
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Given that the woman is only a few days away from reaching 28 weeks of pregnancy, Gujarat government attorney Swati Ghidiyal advocated for a new medical report.
For women who have survived rape, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act as revised in 2021 permits abortions up to 24 weeks. The legislation only permits termination after 24 weeks if there are significant foetal abnormalities.
However, in the right circumstances, a constitutional court may use its extraordinary powers to approve ending a pregnancy after 24 weeks.
The Delhi High Court let a 13-year-old rape victim have her pregnancy medically terminated after 26 weeks in July 2022. The court reasoned that if she were made to take on motherhood at such a young age, her sorrow and suffering would be made even worse.
Following a medical board’s advice, the Kerala high court approved the termination of a minor rape survivor’s 28-week pregnancy in August 2022.
