Bombay High Court refuses to let college student end pregnancy

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act does not permit abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy unless it poses a risk to the lives of the foetus or the woman

The Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by a 20-year-old woman seeking to terminate her pregnancy claiming it would have a detrimental effect on her mental health.

The petitioner, a college student, in her 24th week of pregnancy, had said that though the foetus did not have any known medical abnormalities, the state of her own mental health was not such that she could carry the pregnancy to full term and raise a child.

A bench of Justices S C Dharamadhikari and B P Colabawala, however, noted that a medical board set up in compliance with its order by the city-based JJ Group of Hospitals had said the petitioner "did not have any mental illness currently."

The court said that it had to rule within the ambit of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act which did not permit abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy unless such pregnancy posed a risk to the lives of the foetus or the woman.

The court also took exception to the petitioner's counsel suggesting that the petitioner was probably sexually assaulted and the pregnancy was a result of such assault so she must not be forced to carry it to full term.

Imperative to complain
She said that the family had not registered a police complaint due to "fear and shame". The court cautioned that it was imperative that in cases of sexual assault, the victim lodges a police complaint, or at least bring the same to the court's notice through the petition or initial arguments.

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"Throughout these 22-23 weeks, there has been no mention of sexual assault. In the absence of any specific allegation, this petition stands to be dismissed," the court said.

It added that while courts exercised their extraordinary jurisdiction in cases where victims of rape sought to terminate a pregnancy that was the result of rape, in the present case, there was no such circumstance. The petitioner had not even made a "whisper" until the day's hearing to suggest she had been raped or sexually assaulted, the court observed. "This court is not obliged to consider something which is not pleaded in the petition," it said.

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