13-year-old rape survivor delivers baby boy

Mumbai: A 13-year-old rape survivor, who was 31-weeks pregnant, delivered a baby boy at 12.30 pm on Friday. The girl had moved Supreme Court (SC), seeking an abortion after filing a complaint of rape at the Charkop police station in Mumbai.

The surgical procedure lasted for two hours, and the physical and mental condition of girl is stable.

Dr Ashok Anand, a gynaecologist at the JJ Hospital, said, “The minor delivered a baby boy. She underwent a caesarean operation in the afternoon.”

The newborn is in the neonatal intensive care unit  (NICU) and weighs 1.8kg. “The newborn is stable and accepting oral feeding. He will be kept under observation, and the minor will remain in the hospital for a week,” Dr Anand added.

Talking to The Asian Age, the girl’s mother said, “We have not decided what to do with the newborn, most probably we will keep the baby, but yet we have not decided. Our elders in the family will take a call.”

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the rape survivor, a student of Class 7 from Mumbai to terminate her 31-week-old pregnancy at JJ Hospital.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Amitav Roy and A.M. Kanwilkar passed the order taking note of the medical report filed by a board of doctors of JJ Hospital. The board, which was set up by the court, stated that the foetus could be medically terminated. However, the medical report also warned that both termination and continuation of the pregnancy was not safe.