The baby born to a 13-year-old girl, who was granted permission to undergo an abortion, died at Mumbai’s JJ Hospital on Sunday morning. The Supreme Court had allowed her to terminate the pregnancy two days before the delivery.
Doctors said that the baby had probably died because of internal bleeding, reported the Hindustan Times. The baby, which was born after 31 weeks of pregnancy, weighed 1.8 kg.
“Usually, in premature deliveries, babies’ internal organs are too small and fail to recuperate with the body,” Dr Ashok Anand, head of gynaecology at JJ Hospital said. “This child, too, had smaller lungs and heart, causing respiratory restrictions.”
The 13-year-old girl got pregnant after her father’s business partner had raped her, reports have said. The Supreme Court allowed the girl to have an abortion “keeping in mind the age of the petitioner and the trauma she has faced”, Chief Justice Dipak Misra had said in his order on September 6.
Indian law allows abortion of foetuses up to 20 weeks old, but courts can make exceptions in case abnormalities are detected and if there is substantial risk to the mother’s life and health.
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