Supreme Court turns down request to abort 26-week-old foetus with Down syndrome

Source:- intoday.in

Three months from now, 37-year-old Sulekha (name changed) from Maharashtra will be forced to deliver a baby with serious brain disorders, thanks to India’s archaic abortion law.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court turned down her request to abort her 26-week old foetus afflicted with Down syndrome citing the 46-year-old Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act which does not allow a woman to abort if her pregnancy crosses 20 weeks.

The law allows termination in extreme cases if continuation of the pregnancy is likely to cause grave injury to the woman’s health and/or increases or induces a risk of abnormalities in the child, but in Sulekha’s case, the panel of doctors from Mumbai’s KEM Hospital held the baby had chances of survival. Also, there was no physical risk to the mother.

While pleas from such identically placed women are piling up in the apex court, the Centre is shockingly sitting on the plan to amend the act and extend the time limit.

MEDICAL TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY (AMENDMENT BILL) PENDING

The long-awaited Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) (Amendment) Bill, which contemplates the extension of the legal limit for abortion from the present 20 weeks to 24 weeks is pending since June 2014.

Recently in a separate case, the apex court had on February 7 allowed a 22-year-old woman to terminate her 24-week pregnancy on the ground that it would endanger her life.

In another case, the apex court in January had allowed a Mumbai-based woman, who was in her 24th week of pregnancy, to terminate her pregnancy under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, while taking into consideration the report of a hospital which had suggested that the foetus would not be able to survive without the skull.

When Sulekha’s lawyer pleaded with the bench of justices S A Bobde and L N Rao for a special consideration on humanitarian grounds, the judges told him “It is sad that the child may suffer from physical and mental challenges and it’s unfortunate for the mother but we can’t allow an abortion. We have a life in our hands and we are also tied down by a law”.

“Though everybody knows that children with down syndrome are undoubtedly less intelligent, but they are fine people”, the judges added.

The woman had said in her plea that this disorder could cause physical and mental retardation and the child would not be able to lead a normal and healthy life.

PLEA SEEKING EXTENSION OF LEGAL LIMIT FOR ABORTION

The SC is already hearing a plea seeking extension of the legal limit for abortion from the present 20 weeks to 28.

Two women victims of the law and doctor Nikhil Datar, who had in 2008 unsuccessfully challenged in the Bombay High Court the archaic Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act 1971, which imposes the ban – have in their public interest litigation termed the rule “irrational, outdated, unconstitutional and a violation of women’s rights to equality, health, and life”.

The National Commission for Women, the Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of India (FOGSI), the international community, and several other women groups back the PIL, saying the Act violates women’s rights to physical integrity.

Sarojini Sahai, a gynaecologist at Delhi’s St. Stephen’s Hospital says, “Pregnant women are generally asked to undergo tests around the 18th week to find abnormalities in foetus. Some reports take three weeks and we lose on the MTP cut-off time. A little extension will come as a boon to a lot of women.”

Out of the 26 million births that occur in India every year, approximately 2-3 per cent foetuses have a severe congenital or chromosomal abnormality. Most countries, including the US, UK China which have legalised abortion, allow termination after 20 weeks in case of severe foetal abnormalities, or to protect the mental or physical health of a pregnant woman.

In the UK and Spain, where abortion is allowed till 24 and 22 weeks respectively, receives around 30,000 women each from other European countries like Germany, Romania, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Luxembourg and Hungary, where the limit is a mere 12 weeks.

In both UK and Spain, two registered medical practitioners must certify that the required medical grounds have been met. Significantly, the consent of the spouse is not a prerequisite of the medical termination.