Supreme Court ruling expands access, making it easier for more women to have safe abortions
Supreme Court ruling expands access, making it easier for more women to have safe abortions
Supreme Court ruling that single and unmarried women have equal right to medically safe abortion As married women it is a necessary intervention to correct a discrepancy between the letter of the law and its practice. Based on the equality clause in the Constitution as well as women’s right to dignity, privacy and bodily autonomy, the Court has ruled that there is no justification to exclude single or unmarried women from the categories of women seeking abortion care. can. After 20 weeks of pregnancy, but before 24 weeks. The Delhi High Court had refused to terminate the pregnancy of a 25-year-old woman who was in a consensual relationship but did not want to terminate the pregnancy after her partner refused to marry her. The reason given was that being unmarried and having consensual pregnancy, she was not eligible for the benefit of amendment under the rules. The High Court took a technical approach in the form of Rule 3B, which listed women eligible to terminate the pregnancy – such as survivors of rape, minorsThe physically disabled and those with mental illness – did not explicitly include unmarried women who became pregnant in a consensual relationship.
However, the Court has given an objective meaning to the rules. “Change of marital status” as a reason for which abortion is permitted during the extended upper limit of 24 weeks. Since the argument here is a possible change in the material circumstances of the woman, the court has ruled that abandonment by the partner may also constitute a change in circumstances that may have affected the earlier decision to continue the pregnancy. The legislature has allowed abortion up to the 24th week of pregnancy if two registered physicians are of the opinion that the continuation of the pregnancy would endanger the life of the woman or cause serious injury to her health. Here too, the Court has taken an objective view, holding that an unwanted pregnancy affects a woman’s physical and mental health, making it very important that she alone decide whether to have an abortion. Or not. On a question that did not directly arise in the case, the court has observed that rape victims who can legally seek an abortion for an extended period should also Involve survivors of marital rape, This judicial approach may prevent the question from being raised whether pregnancy due to marital rape, which is not an offence, can also be terminated under this rule. At a time when unsafe abortion remains a major cause of maternal mortality, it is an important decision Which advances the cause of safe abortion services.