We Can’t Kill a Child, says SC While Hearing Plea to Terminate 26-Week Pregnancy
GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 12th Oct. “We cannot kill a child,” the Supreme Court said on Thursday as it heard the Centre’s petition to overturn its order allowing a married woman, a mother of two, to terminate her 26-week pregnancy.
While emphasizing that the Supreme Court has to balance the rights of the unborn child, a “living and viable foetus,” with the mother’s right to decisional autonomy, a bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud asked the Centre and her lawyer to speak with the woman about the possibility of continuing the pregnancy for a few weeks longer.
“Do you want us to tell the doctors at AIIMS to stop the fetal heart?” the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, asked the counsel appearing for the 27-year-old woman.
When the counsel responded with a “no”, the bench said when the woman has waited for over 24 weeks, can’t she retain the foetus for some more weeks so there is the possibility of a healthy child being born.
The bench has posted the matter for resumed hearing at 10.30 AM on Friday.
The matter came up before the CJI-led bench after a two-judge bench on Wednesday gave a split verdict on the Centre’s plea for recall of its October 9 order granting permission to the woman to terminate her 26-week pregnancy.
The apex court had on October 9 allowed the woman to proceed with medical termination of pregnancy after taking note that she was suffering from depression and was not in a position to raise a third child “emotionally, financially and mentally”.
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