The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and others to set up a medical panel to examine whether a 10-year-old, who got pregnant after her uncle raped her multiple times, could abort her 27-week-old foetus. The medical board will have to examine whether terminating her pregnancy would pose a risk to her life, PTI reported.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud, has also asked the member secretary of the Chandigarh Legal Services Authority to help in the case. A board of doctors at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh will examine the girl on Wednesday.
The next hearing in the case in on Friday.
Doctors at the hospital, however, have ruled out the possibility of an abortion for the 10-year-old. “The baby cannot be aborted,” a gynaecologist at the Chandigarh institute told the Hindustan Times. “They can go to any apex court or any hospital. The child has crossed the time to abort the baby.”
On July 18, a Chandigarh district court had refused to allow the 10-year-old girl abort her six-month-old foetus on the grounds that it would put her health and life at risk.
Indian law allows abortion of foetuses up to 20 weeks old, but courts can make exceptions in case abnormalities are detected.
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