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Synopsis

A CJI DY Chandrachud led bench today asked the counsel for a 26-week pregnant woman seeking to terminate her pregnancy, what was she doing all this while.

The woman, who is already a mother of two, approached the Court seeking to abort her pregnancy citing post-partum depression as a reason. Notably, financial reasons were also cited by her.

"AIIMS doctors say she will have depression even if she delivers tomorrow. This is not a case of a minor victim, she is a married woman who already has two children, WHAT WAS SHE DOING FOR 26 WEEKS?", asked CJI DY Chandrachud.

ASG Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for Union of India, told court today as the woman was suffering from postpartum psychosis after her second delivery in September 2022, this was a concern flagged by doctors at AIIMS.

"AIIMS sent us a report after it was directed by this court to terminate the pregnancy. They asked if feticide can be done as the baby might be viable. Doctors have said termination is not possible if foetus survives", ASG Bhati added.

Submitting that Doctors opined on woman suffering from depression even after termination, the ASG said, "The medical opinion here clearly denies it. We cannot go against it and give primacy to choice. This will be very chaotic for the country."

When the bench also comprising Justices Pardiwala and Manoj Misra questioned if the woman would consider doing a C-section after a few weeks and give the child up for adoption, the woman's counsel replied saying she did not want to continue her pregnancy due to her medical condition.

"You want us to direct AIIMS to stop the foetal heart? I have written the judgment in X, so you don't tell me about autonomy..", said a visibly miffed CJI is response.

"We also need to balance out the rights of the child. You are right that autonomy of woman trumps..but you have to look at the rights of the unborn child, which is why our law puts cut off of 24 weeks", the bench added.

Court went on to explain to the counsel that the child may be born with mental and physical deformities and thus it was not compelling his client to keep the child but just to wait for another two weeks to deliver and then it could be put up for adoption.

"In plain language, you are asking us to put an end to the child's life.. Every woman undergoes a degree of postpartum depression...but do you need 24 weeks to realise that..we are not belittling the issue..", CJI added.

The matter will now be taken up tomorrow at 10.30 AM.

Yesterday, a two-women judge bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and Hima Kohli had referred the matter to a larger bench after arriving on a split opinion.

Centre had filed a recall plea against an earlier order allowing the 26-week pregnant woman to terminate her pregnancy due to 'financial reasons'.