Mumbai: The medical board of JJ Hospital in its report on the termination of a 28-week pregnancy due to abnormalities in the foetus confirmed the same but has put the onus of granting permission for termination of pregnancy on the Bombay high court. The report also mentioned that the woman seemed to be suffering from mental agony due to the same. The Bombay high court, however, asked the petitioner to show instances in the Supreme Court or High Court cases where termination of pregnancy was allowed on the grounds of mental agony.
A division bench of justices RM Borde and RG Ketkar was hearing the writ petition of a woman seeking termination of her 28-week pregnancy as the ultrasonography report had mentioned that the foetus had various anomalies, which were not conducive for its survival after being born. In an earlier hearing, the court had directed the Medical Board of JJ Hospital to examine the woman and submit its report on January 8.
On Monday, when the matter came up for hearing, advocate Meenaz Kakalia on behalf of the petitioner, while referring to the report of the medical board said that in light of the observations that the woman was undergoing stress, the court should consider granting permission for terminating the pregnancy.
However, the court asked whether terminating the pregnancy at such an advanced stage would lead to ending a life prematurely and whether section 5 of the Medical Termination of the Pregnancy Act (MTP) also considered mental trauma of the pregnant woman as a ground for permitting termination.
Responding to the query by the bench, Kakalia said that the pregnant woman was already undergoing immense mental agony and even if the pregnancy reached maturity and the child was born it would not have survived for more than two-three weeks and this would only contribute to increasing the agony of the woman. Terminating the pregnancy now would see to it that the woman has a healthy and happy life. When the court asked the petitioner to show orders of the SC or HC that allowed termination of pregnancy on the grounds, Kakalia sought a day’s time for the same. The matter will come up for hearing on Tuesday.
