Woman Can Abort Foetus Over Domestic Violence

The Bombay High Court has granted a lady the right to abort her 23-week-old healthy foetus, remarking that domestic violence has an impact on a woman's mental health and might be a valid reason for medically ending her pregnancy.

The judgment was passed on August 3 by a bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Madhav Jamdar and a copy of it was made available on Tuesday. In its order, the HC also mentioned women's reproductive rights, as envisioned by the WHO. A panel of professionals evaluated the 22-year-old woman, a victim of domestic violence, at Mumbai's state-run J J Hospital.

The panel determined that, while her foetus was healthy and had no defects, the mother had experienced significant mental stress, and that continuing the pregnancy would worsen that trauma. The woman stated in her plea to the HC that she and her husband were divorcing and that she did not want to continue with the pregnancy. The existing Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act prohibits terminating a pregnancy after 20 weeks unless it poses harm to the foetus or the mother's health.

However, on past occasions too, several appellate courts, as well as the Bombay High Court, have fought for women's mental health and allowed termination of pregnancy beyond 20 weeks if it poses a risk to a woman's mental health and a medical panel so advises. The time frame has been extended to 24 weeks by an amendment to the Act that has yet to be implemented.

"If contraception failure leading to pregnancy can be presumed to constitute a grave injury to the pregnant woman's mental health, can it be said that a pregnant woman suffering from domestic violence would not face grave injury to her mental health if pregnancy is allowed to continue in the face of continuing domestic violence with a grim foreseeable future?" the HC asked in the current case.

The HC went on to say, "Rape is an example of extreme aggression against a woman. Domestic violence is also a kind of violence towards a woman, albeit to a lower extent." It was pointed out that the petitioner stated in her plea that if the child was born, she would not receive the necessary financial and emotional support from her spouse.

"In such circumstances, we believe that denying the petitioner's permission will be tantamount to compelling her to continue with her pregnancy, which in the circumstances, will not only become extremely burdensome and oppressive on her but has the potential to cause grave harm to her mental health," the high court said. The bench granted the petitioner's request to have her pregnancy terminated at Cooper Hospital in Mumbai.