'Can't compel woman to complete pregnancy': Supreme Court allows minor to terminate 30-week pregnancy

New Delhi: Directing medical termination of a 30-week pregnancy of a 17-year-old girl, the Supreme Court on Friday said that courts cannot compel a woman, much less a minor, to continue a pregnancy.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that the girl had become pregnant while being in a relationship with a neighbourhood boy and sought to medically terminate her pregnancy.

The bench asked Mumbai's JJ Hospital to undertake the medical termination of the pregnancy of the minor while ensuring that all necessary medical safeguards are followed.

The bench observed that the court had considered the fact that the right of the minor child to continue the pregnancy, which, on the face of it, was "illegitimate" as she herself was a minor and was facing the pregnancy due to an unfortunate situation arising from a relationship.

It said the issue was not whether the relationship was consensual or the result of sexual assault.

"What has to be considered in the instant case is the right of the minor child to continue a pregnancy which is ex-facie illegitimate in as much as she is a minor and has to face this unfortunate situation of having the pregnancy owing to a relationship that she had. The issue is not whether the relationship was consensual or whether it was a case of sexual assault. Ultimately, the fact is that the child to be is not legitimate and secondly, the mother to be of the child does not want to bear the child," the bench said.

The top court noted the report of the medical board of the hospital that there was no threat to the life of the child and the mother if allowed to give birth after full term.

"If the interest of the mother is to be taken note of, then her reproductive autonomy must be given sufficient emphasis. The court cannot compel any woman, much less a minor child, to complete her pregnancy if she is otherwise not intending to do so," the bench said.

During the hearing, Justice Nagarathna noted the difficult questions of morality and legal questions which the court has to deal with and said if the court does not deal with the medical termination, then people will visit quacks and illegal medical establishments and that will not be safe for them.

It said that while the birth of a child ultimately results in a life, the decisive factor in the present case was the clear and consistent unwillingness of the minor to continue the pregnancy.

"It is also difficult for us but there is no other way. Should we compel her to give birth to a child? Because the child which will be born is also ultimately going to be a life.

"There is another question; if she can terminate the pregnancy at 24 weeks, then why not at 30 weeks? Ultimately, she doesn't want to continue the pregnancy. Bottom line is she doesn't want to give birth, that is the difficulty," the bench observed.

It added that sometimes it takes time to decide whether to terminate the pregnancy or not.

"There are so many cases where termination takes place beyond what's stipulated under the MTP (Medical Termination of Pregnancy) Act (1971). And doctors say we won't do it.

"Where will such people go? To quacks and unauthorised doctors. That will be dangerous," it said.

Counsel appearing for the Maharashtra government submitted that according to medical reports, even if the child is allowed to be born today, the child is going to be alive and one of the views of the high court was that the baby can be given to an orphanage if the mother does not want to keep it.

The top court said it will release the operating part of the order for the benefit of the hospital and the detailed order will follow.