Unmarried women have right to safe abortion : Supreme Court
Tags: National News
The Supreme Court, in an order on July 21, held that denying an unmarried woman the right to a safe abortion is a violation of her personal autonomy and liberty.
Important facts
Justice Chandrachud was hearing an appeal by a woman who wanted to abort her 24-week pregnancy as she had become pregnant before marriage and was abandoned by her partner.
The Delhi High Court had dismissed her plea saying that abortion of an unmarried woman was not covered under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.
Judgement of Supreme Court
The bench said that the live-in relationship has already been recognized by the Supreme Court.
There are a large number of people in the social mainstream who do not see any harm in having premarital sex.
A woman’s right to reproductive choice is an inseparable part of her personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
A woman has a sacrosanct right to bodily integrity.
A woman's right to make reproductive choices is also a dimension of 'personal liberty'.
The court said that forcing a woman to continue with her pregnancy would not only violate her physical integrity but would also aggravate her mental trauma.
The Supreme Court directed that the AIIMS director should constitute a medical board to conduct a medical examination of the woman and see whether the abortion of the woman poses any threat to her life.
If the medical board comes to the conclusion that there is no risk of termination of pregnancy at 24 weeks, then the pregnancy of the woman should be terminated.
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