The Delhi High Court on Tuesday withdrew its earlier order allowing a woman, who lost her husband in October last year, to terminate her 29-week-old fetus. Justice Subramaniam Prasad said, “The order is withdrawn.”

Justice Prasad’s latest decision comes after the Center filed a petition seeking withdrawal of the January 4 order that allowed medical termination of pregnancy on the grounds that survival of the child is essential. There is a reasonable possibility and the court should consider protecting the right to life of the unborn child. , Detailed copy of the order is awaited.

In the present case, the central government said in its application, “The pregnancy cannot be terminated unless the doctor performs feticide, failing which it will lead to premature delivery with major complications.”

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where the woman was medically examined, also claimed that it is advisable to continue the pregnancy for another two-three weeks for the betterment of the health of the mother and child.

AIIMS, which urged the court to pass directions on further action in this regard, said that as per the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, the provision for termination of pregnancies beyond 24 weeks applies to fetuses with significant abnormalities and ” Is to be done for “feticide”. This case is neither fair nor ethical as the fetus is completely normal.

On January 4, the High Court had allowed a widow suffering from depression to terminate her 29-week-old fetus as continuing the pregnancy could affect her mental health and said the right not to reproduce outweighs the right to reproductive choice. also includes.

The high court had said that there was a change in the marital status of the woman, who lost her husband on October 19, 2023, and came to know about her pregnancy on October 31, 2023.

It stated that the woman should be allowed to terminate her pregnancy as allowing her to continue it could impair her mental stability as she was showing suicidal tendencies.

The woman, who married in February 2023, lost her husband in October after which she came to her parents’ house and discovered that she was 20 weeks pregnant. In December, she decided not to continue her pregnancy as she was suffering from extreme trauma due to her husband’s demise and approached doctors for an abortion.

However, since the gestation period was more than 24 weeks, which is the acceptable limit for aborting the fetus, she was not allowed to do so. Subsequently, the woman approached the court for permission to medically terminate her pregnancy and a medical board was constituted to assess her health condition.

AIIMS, in its report, said that the woman was provisionally diagnosed with depression as well as death of spouse and differential diagnosis of adjustment disorder and added that at this time, it cannot be predicted with certainty whether the pregnancy will continue. Keeping it can be harmful. To the health of the petitioner from the psychiatric point of view.

Rule 3(b) of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) rules allows a woman to terminate her pregnancy up to 24 weeks with certain conditions.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)