New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here to constitute a medical board to ascertain the physical condition of a woman and her 25-week foetus she wants aborted citing financial constraints.

A vacation bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma ordered the medical board to furnish its report by May 27.

The bench passed the order on a plea of the woman, who claimed that she came to know about her pregnancy on May 17.

“She has come all the way from Dubai and is currently staying in a hotel here. She is not that financially strong,” the counsel said and urged the bench to allow her to terminate her pregnancy.

The bench said it will list the matter for next Monday.

Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, aborting a foetus that is more than 24 weeks old can be allowed only in cases of substantial foetal abnormality as diagnosed by a medical board or if an opinion is formed in good faith for the purpose of saving the life of the pregnant woman.

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New Delhi:

In strong observations while hearing a woman’s request to terminate a 26-week pregnancy, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud asked if the petitioner wanted permission to kill the child through a court order.

The Supreme Court has asked the woman’s counsel and the centre’s lawyer to speak to her before the next hearing tomorrow morning.

The three-judge bench led by the Chief Justice of India is hearing the married woman’s petition for the permission to abort the 26-week pregnancy. A mother of two, the woman has said she is suffering from depression and is not in a position to raise a third child, emotionally or financially.

On October 9, the court had allowed her to proceed with the pregnancy. The centre then sought a recall of the order, citing the advice of a panel of doctors at AIIMS Delhi against the abortion. Yesterday, a two-judge bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice BV Nagarathna gave a split verdict. Following this, the Chief Justice of India-led bench took up the matter.

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court has placed on hold an order allowing the termination of a 26-week pregnancy after the government submitted a medical report indicating the foetus is “viable”, i.e., it shows signs of life and has a strong possibility of survival. The court, hearing a government plea to recall its order, said it wanted to hear from the woman before passing the new order.

The hearing is to resume at 2 pm.

The top court, which yesterday allowed the termination, was irked by the last-minute AIIMS report, and demanded to know why it had not been presented sooner. “Why only after our order? Why were they not candid earlier? Which court wants to stop a foetus with a heartbeat? Certainly not us, for heaven’s sake,” Justice Hima Kohli said.

On Tuesday, a different bench of the Supreme Court allowed the couple to abort their 26-week-old pregnancy after the petitioner argued that the woman, who is a mother of two children, is suffering from various health issues and from postnatal depression.

The woman said she is financially, emotionally and socially not in a position to raise a third child while she is already breastfeeding her second child.