The Supreme Court said on Friday said that permanent medical panels should be set up in every state to assess the requests for termination of pregnancies which have crossed the legally permissible 20 weeks so that crucial time is not wasted in approaching courts.
SC directs termination of 26-week-old pregnancy with abnormal foetus
SC observations
The Supreme Court stated its observations after it witnessed a rise in the petitions from women and rape survivors who had to approach the top court to seek permission to terminate unwanted pregnancies.
It also said that the top court is often unable to grant relief to women as, by the time they approached the court, it was too late and risky for them to undergo an abortion.
The medical panels will not only look into abortion requests of an emergency nature but also give expeditious analysis.
Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar told the court that he would convey the suggestion to the Centre without delay.
"Time is of essence in these cases. The health of the pregnant woman and fetus needs prompt medical examination," Chief Justice Khehar told the chief legal advisor.
When an aggrieved woman approaches the court, it directs another concerned administration to set up a medical board to examine the mother to determine the risk and feasibility of the medical termination of pregnancy.
"In many cases, the women first moved high courts," the bench said.
"Why not set up permanent medical boards which can promptly deal with such requests without pregnant women being forced to rush to courts. You can place our suggestion before the competent authority to incorporate it in the proposed bill," the bench added.
According to a Times of India report, the SC has witnessed seven abortion pleas of pregnancies past 20 weeks in the last one year.
In a recent case on Friday, a 10-year old rape survivor's abortion plea was dismissed as it was risky for the child to undergo medical termination at such an advanced stage.
