GUWAHATI: The Allahabad High Court recently ruled that a woman has the right to decide whether to continue a pregnancy resulting from sexual assault.
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According to a LiveLaw report published on Tuesday, February 11, the court made the observation while hearing a petition seeking the medical termination of pregnancy for a 17-year-old survivor of sexual abuse.
The bench, comprising Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Prashant Kumar, stated that Section 3(2) of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, grants victims of sexual assault the right to terminate pregnancies medically. It further held that compelling a woman to bear the child of an assaulter would add to her trauma and violate her right to dignity.
“In the case of sexual assault, denying a woman’s right to say no to medical termination of pregnancy and fastening her with the responsibility of motherhood would amount to denying her human right to live with dignity,” the bench observed. The court emphasised that forcing a victim to give birth under such circumstances would result in “unexplainable miseries.”
The case involved a 17-year-old girl who had eloped with the accused. After her father filed a complaint, she was found, and during a medical examination for stomach pain, it was discovered that she was over three months pregnant. The petitioner’s counsel alleged that she was raped multiple times and had approached the Sessions Court for further investigation.
As the petitioner is now 19 weeks pregnant, her counsel argued that continuing the pregnancy was causing her severe mental anguish. It was contended that, as a minor, she was neither physically nor mentally prepared for the responsibility of motherhood.
The court noted that Rule 3B of the MTP Rules, 2003 (amended in 2021), permits termination of pregnancy up to 24 weeks for survivors of sexual assault, minors, or victims of incest. Additionally, Explanation 2 to Section 3(2)(b) of the MTP Act states that pregnancy caused by rape can be terminated if it continues to cause mental distress.
