The Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to hear arguments on a plea seeking to extend the 20-week legal limit for abortion under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act (1971).
A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi posted the matter challenging the legal provision to January next year.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for petitioners Mrs X and Mrs Y (who suffered due to such provision), argued that the existing 20-week limit under the MTP Act violated women’s rights to bodily integrity as even in the case of severe foetal abnormalities, it forced women to carry pregnancies.
He said that with the advancement in technology, the restriction did not hold good as the abnormalities in the foetus could be detected earlier.
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