Overview
- This week multiple high courts across India granted individual permissions to terminate pregnancies that had exceeded the statutory 24‑week threshold, basing relief on medical reports and the petitioners’ mental, social and physical harm.
- The Bombay High Court allowed a 19‑year‑old unmarried woman to end a 26‑week pregnancy after a Sir JJ Hospital medical board found no fetal anomaly but said it could not clear the abortion under the gestational limit; the judges cited risks to her education, career and mental health.
- The Rajasthan High Court authorised termination of a 25‑week pregnancy for a minor who was raped and directed the district medical board to provide the necessary facilities while noting the procedure carried medical risk.
- The Madras High Court permitted a 15‑week termination for a 23‑year‑old, declared that the law does not compel motherhood, and ordered preservation of foetal tissue and other biological samples with steps for DNA testing for use in any criminal probe.
- Together these orders show courts balancing medical‑board findings with constitutional Article 21 protections for autonomy and dignity, and they instruct hospitals to deliver care and preserve evidence where criminal allegations exist, a practice that could shape future requests for judicial relief.