For the first time, SC allows woman to abort 24-week-old abnormal foetus

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Supreme Court
Supreme Court

Los Angeles : In a landmark decision by the Supreme Court, shifted women camps interest back to the proposed amendments to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971. 

The apex court on Monday decided to allow a 22-year-old Mumbai woman to terminate a 24-week pregnancy after doctors said the foetus was malformed and also posed a risk to the mother’s life.

Notably, till date legally there is only 20-week ceiling on abortion.

The petitioner’s advocate had earlier asked the court for relaxation stating that the woman should be allowed to abort the foetus that was diagnosed with anencephaly.

The court had on January 11 asked Mumbai’s KEM Hospital to examine the petitioner's plea.

Anencephaly is a congenital defect in which a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull.

The decision was taken up by a bench of justice SA Bobde and justice L Nageswara Rao who took into account the report of KEM hospital medical board that said the foetus would not survive without the skull.

The statement read: “In the interest of justice, particularly right of the petitioner to preserve her life by letting her undergo pregnancy, we direct termination to be performed by the hospital that gave the report.”