A woman was allowed to medically terminate her 22-week pregnancy by Delhi High Court as a congenital anomaly was detected in the foetus. The court allowed the termination on the grounds that there would be psychological harm to the woman if her child is born with such anomaly. Justice Rekha Palli made this order considering the ultrasound report of the 31-year-old petitioner that indicated that the child would suffer from various physical deformities and will have to go through several corrective surgeries if he /she is born that way leading to numerous intra-operative and post-operative complications. It was considered by Justice Palli that it would seriously affect the quality of life of mother and child.
The petitioner had informed the judge that two years back, she had conceived twins. Due to underlying complications, she delivered them pre-maturely. One of the twins passed away due to physical deformities and the other one has been still undergoing treatment and therefore, she was not in a mental state to endure the emotional trauma once again. “Since there is every likelihood that if the petitioner is not granted permission to terminate her pregnancy, grave psychological harm is likely to be caused to her, I am inclined to agree with the learned counsel for the petitioner that in the present case, the petitioner ought to be granted permission for termination of her pregnancy,” the court mentioned while passing the pregnancy termination order. Medical board constituted for the specific case was in support of the opinions of the court. Petitioner has been permitted to undergo the said procedure at a hospital of her choice.