A petition was filed by a woman on 31st August seeking the intervention of court for termination of her pregnancy which was over 23 weeks.
Termination of pregnancy is not allowed after 20 weeks as per the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971. The termination is allowed by the law only if it is done by a registered medical practitioner and the period of pregnancy does not exceed 12 weeks.
In case the duration exceeds 20 weeks and the doctors say it involves a huge risk to the life of the women or grave injury to her physical or mental health, then the termination is allowed
The High Court of Punjab and Haryana upon looking at the circumstances of the case allowed the women who were 23 weeks pregnant to terminate her pregnancy.
The court after the petition was filed asked the PGIMER (Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research) to check the women. The PGIMER told the court that the fetus had a severe development defect in its brain and spine known as Arnold Chiari malformation and that it is not compatible with life. They also told that the women had a single live intrauterine fetus with congenital malformation.
The PGIMER is directed to terminate the pregnancy within 3 days by the bench of Justice Ritu Bahri.
