By Dave Andrusko
A few years ago, this might have been a surprise. No longer.
The Free Press Journal [India] is reporting, “Observing that becoming an unwed mother would cause a woman tremendous mental agony, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday allowed her to abort her pregnancy at just over 20 weeks.”
Another account in the Hindustan Times said the woman was 24 weeks pregnant as of last week. Abortions “beyond the statutory limit of 20 weeks are done only on orders of the high court,” Kanchan Chaudhari reported.
“A bench of Justices Shahrukh Kathawalla and Surendra Tavade” told the woman she could have “a medical facility of her choice by Friday,” Outlook India reported.
This is just the latest example of where abortion laws in India– The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act– have been stretched beyond recognition. According to Outlook India
The MTP Act permits abortions up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, after consultation with a doctor. For termination of pregnancy between 12 to 20 weeks, medical opinion of two doctors is required.
Beyond 20 weeks, exceptions are legally permissible only if continuation of the pregnancy poses a threat to the mother’s health and life.
Usually when these very (and some times VERY) late abortions are performed, we are told there are a host of “extenuating circumstances” that do not include a threat to the woman’s health. In this instance, the woman told the justices “In view of the lockdown being announced, I could not visit any doctor after March 2020 and it was only after receiving the sonography report on May 18 that I became aware of this pregnancy.” She also said, “Since my menstrual cycle was irregular even before, I did not realise I was pregnant.”
The 23-year-old woman from Ratnagiri in Southwest India, also told the High Court
“Along with the stigma of being an unwed mother, I will not be able to handle the child as an unmarried single parent. It will be difficult for me to maintain the child without any financial background and mental support,” she argued.
“Giving birth to the child under these circumstances will cause grave mental agony to me and our lives will become miserable.”
She further urged the bench that it would not be possible for her to get married in future because of the social stigma and that she is not mentally prepared to be a mother.