The Supreme Court of India in its decision has dismissed the termination of 32-week pregnancy of a 10-year-old rape survivor.
The apex court dismissed the plea of the girl’s family to terminate the pregnancy after taking note of a medical report that was submitted by the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research. The report indicated that the abortion was harmful to the girl and the fetus.
According to the Hindustan Times, Indian Courts allow termination of 20-weeks pregnancy under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. It also considers exceptions of termination if the fetus is genetically abnormal. It also states that termination will not be allowed unless it is necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman.
The decision by the Supreme Court was not taken well by the family. The father of the victim who was in Delhi for the court’s hearing broke down and said he didn’t want the baby to be delivered, as stated by the lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava petitioning for the plea of termination of the pregnancy.
“He expressed his gratitude to me for taking up the matter in the Supreme Court, yet he couldn’t stop crying and said he didn’t want to even see the face of the baby that is in his daughter’s womb,” said Srivastava. He said, “The victim’s father even expressed the need for financial compensation for the treatment.”
The girl was allegedly raped repeatedly by her maternal uncle. Her pregnancy was discovered when her parents took her to the hospital after she complained of stomach pain.
The family’s petition for termination of the pregnancy was previously turned down by the district court in the Northern city of Chandigarh in Punjab.
