Bombay High Court Denies 28-Year-old Woman's Plea To Terminate 26-Week Pregnancy Amid Divorce Proceedings

Mumbai: A woman has approached the Bombay High Court seeking to terminate her 26-week pregnancy as the same was "unwanted". The woman, 28, has claimed in her plea that she already has a four-year-old daughter and is going through divorce proceedings with her estranged husband.

Her plea contends that she is in a relationship with a friend with whom she got pregnant. “ the petitioner is made to go through the unwanted pregnancy, then there is likelihood hood of mental and physical anguish and trauma,” her plea read.

The HC had, last week, asked to constitute a medical board to examine the woman and about a report regarding her physical and mental health. The court, after going through the report on Tuesday, noted that it was not in favour of termination of the pregnancy. It asked the woman’s advocate to ask her to go through the report and kept the matter for hearing on Wednesday.

"The Medical Board has refused the request for termination. The report specifically denied termination saying the woman is not fit for the procedure,” a bench of Justices Ajey Gadkari and Neela Gokhale said. It added that after the seeing the report, the woman may not want to risk her life going through the termination procedure.

The woman in her plea said due to stress in her personal life she had not given much attention when she missed her menstrual cycles and hence learnt of her pregnancy only at a later stage. Under the provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, court permission is required to terminate a pregnancy beyond 24 weeks.