'Right To Reproductive Choice Includes Right Not To Procreate': Delhi HC Allows Widow To End 29-Week Pregnancy

The Delhi High Court permits a widow to terminate her 29-week pregnancy due to mental health reasons.

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The Delhi High Court has allowed a widow, suffering from depression, to terminate her 29-week foetus as continuation of pregnancy could affect her mental health and observed that the right to reproductive choice also includes the right not to procreate.

The high court noted that there was a change in the marital status of the woman, who lost her husband on October 19, 2023, and came to know about her pregnancy on October 31, 2023.

Justice Subramonium Prasad said the woman should be permitted to terminate her pregnancy because allowing her to continue with it can impair her mental stability as she was showing suicidal tendencies.

"Accordingly, the petitioner (woman) is permitted to undergo the procedure for termination of her pregnancy at AIIMS. AIIMS is requested to conduct the procedure even though the petitioner has crossed her gestation period of 24 weeks," the high court said.

It, however, made clear that the order has been passed in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case and it shall not be treated as a precedent.

The court referred to a Supreme Court judgment in which it held that it is the prerogative of each woman to evaluate her life and arrive at the best course of action in view of the change in material circumstances.

"… the right to reproductive choice also includes the right not to procreate,” the high court said.

The woman, who got married in February 2023, lost her husband in October after which she came to her parents’ house and got to know that she was 20 weeks pregnant.

In December, she decided not to continue with her pregnancy as she was suffering from extreme trauma due to the demise of her husband and approached doctors for termination.

However, since the gestation period was more than 24 weeks, the permissible limit to abort a foetus, she was not granted permission.

Thereafter, the woman approached the court seeking permission to medically terminate her pregnancy and a medical board was constituted to assess her health condition.

AIIMS, in its report, said that the woman was provisionally diagnosed with depression with problems related to the death of a spouse and a differential diagnosis of adjustment disorder and added that at this time, it cannot be speculated definitively whether the continuation of pregnancy can be detrimental to the petitioner's health from a psychiatric viewpoint.

Rule 3(B) of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Rules permits a woman to terminate her pregnancy up to 24 weeks with certain conditions. 

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