10-Year-Old Rape Survivor's Abortion Plea Rejected By Supreme Court, Says Too Late For Her To Abort Now

Ten-year-old rape survivor, who is 32 weeks pregnant, will have to carry her pregnancy to full term as the Supreme Court has turned down her abortion plea on Friday, observing that it was too late for her to abort now, according ANI.

Thg SC considered the report of medical board that termination of pregnancy is neither good for the girl nor for the foetus.

A bench comprising Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice DY Chandrachud took note of the report of the medical board set up by PGI (Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research) Chandigarh to examine the rape survivor and the consequences if the termination of pregnancy was allowed.

The bench expressed satisfaction over the medical care being provided to the rape survivor at present and dismissed the plea seeking abortion.

The bench asked Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, who was present in the court room, to consider its suggestion to set up a permanent medical board in every state to take a prompt decision on prospects of early abortion in view of the fact that such cases are reaching the apex court in a big way.

Acting on the directions of the Supreme Court, a medical board comprising senior doctors of the PGIMER in Chandigarh had examined the girl, reported PTI on Thursday.

The court on Monday had sought the response of the Centre on a plea seeking its nod for the rape survivor to terminate her pregnancy and ordered the child's examination by a medical board consented to by one of her parents.

Doctors at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) examined the girl for nearly three hours and conducted various tests.

Accompanied by her mother, the girl was brought to PGIMER on Thursday.

After various tests were conducted, a report was prepared and it was handed over to the member-secretary of the Chandigarh Legal Services Authority in a sealed cover, as directed by the apex court, PGIMER sources said.

The apex court had fixed the matter for hearing on July 28.

The eight-member panel of doctors of PGIMER who examined the girl comprised senior doctors drawn from various departments including pulmonary medicine, gynaecology, paediatrics, radiodiagnosis, cardiology, psychiatry and internal medicine.

A PIL was filed after a Chandigarh district court on July 18 refused to let the girl undergo an abortion after it was confirmed that she was 26 weeks pregnant.

Medical termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks is allowed under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, and courts can make an exception if the foetus is genetically abnormal.

The petition, filed by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, had sought appropriate guidelines be framed by the top court to set up a permanent medical board in each district of the country for expedient termination of pregnancies in exceptional cases involving child rape survivors.

The petition had also sought a direction to the Centre to amend Section 3 of the MTP Act, so as to permit termination of pregnancy of more than 20 weeks, particularly involving child rape survivors after obtaining requisite opinion from a permanently constituted medical board.

The girl was raped allegedly by her maternal uncle, a hotel worker, repeatedly over the past few months. He has been arrested.

The girl’s family has been residing in a servants' quarters here. Her father is a watchman and the mother works as a domestic help.