The Supreme Court will hear on Thursday the plea of a rape survivor for legally terminating her 24-week pregnancy because the law does not allow her to do so. The 26-year-old has challenged the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (MTP) that puts a ceiling on abortion, even if there is a fatal risk to the mother and foetus. Rejecting Nikita Mehta’s plea, the court observed that medical experts did not express any “categorical opinion that if the child is born, it would suffer from serious handicaps”. A similar case was reported eight years ago from Mumbai in which the Bombay high court had refused permission to abort a 26-week foetus with a serious heart defect. The petitioner said the ceiling on abortion was unconstitutional and violated a woman’s right to live.

Source: Hindustan Times July 21, 2016 02:15 UTC