The medical panel set up by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences has not granted permission to a 16-year-old rape survivor to terminate her pregnancy. The board was established on the orders of the Delhi High Court after the girl approached it last week, seeking permission to abort her 24-week-old foetus.
In its report, the medical board said an abortion at this stage could prove fatal for the girl and would also be illegal, India Today reported. A checkup also revealed that the 16-year-old is in her 30th week of pregnancy and not in the 24th week as she had claimed in court.
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, allows abortions within 12-20 weeks of conception only if two doctors agree that there are major complications or that the pregnancy is life-threatening for the mother. On July 25, the Supreme Court allowed a rape survivor from Mumbai to get an abortion after a medical examination found that her 24-week-old foetus had an abnormality.
Following the apex court's judgement, the Centre had said that relaxing the 20-week ceiling on abortions prescribed in the Act could be misused. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had cited the staggering number of cases of female foeticide and infanticide in India while making the statement.
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