Unmarried woman's plea to terminate 28-week pregnancy rejected by High Court

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to allow a 20-year-old unmarried woman to terminate her 28-week pregnancy.

"The petition is rejected," Justice Subramonium Prasad said.

The court had reserved its verdict on the petition last week while orally observing that it would not allow the woman to abort a 'completely viable foetus'.

"I am not going to allow it for a completely viable foetus of 28 weeks. In the report, I can't see any abnormality in the foetus. Foeticide cannot be permitted," the judge had said.

In her plea, the woman claimed she got pregnant through a consensual relationship but she came to know about the pregnancy recently.

After the doctors refused to terminate the pregnancy as the gestation period was beyond the legally permissible limit of 24 weeks, the woman sought permission from the high court to undergo medical termination of her 28-week pregnancy under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act.

Advocate Amit Mishra, representing the woman, had said she did not come to know about the pregnancy earlier and it was only on January 25, that she came to know that she was 27 weeks pregnant.

The lawyer said the young woman was unmarried and no one in her family knows about her pregnancy and her condition shall be considered.

He had further urged the court to direct the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to medically examine the woman to know her mental and physical condition as well as the condition of foetus.