Delhi HC allows abortion beyond 24 weeks for minor rape survivor, citing Article 21 reproductive autonomy

The Delhi High Court permitted a 17-year-old rape survivor, about 29 weeks pregnant, to terminate her pregnancy, even though the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 ordinarily caps termination at 24 weeks. The petition, filed by the minor through her grandmother under Article 226 read with Article 21 of the Constitution and Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, sought termination after an FIR was registered over the rape. A Medical Board at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital found her medically and psychologically fit for the procedure.

Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar relied on the Supreme Court's ruling in S v. Union of India, which held that constitutional courts exercising jurisdiction under Article 226 or Article 32 are not bound by the MTP Act's statutory gestational limit, and that a minor rape survivor's reproductive autonomy and bodily integrity under Article 21 must prevail over the interest of carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term. The Court allowed the termination, directing that the State bear all medical expenses, that the hospital preserve foetal tissue for DNA testing linked to the criminal case, that the child (if born alive) receive incubator care with the Child Welfare Committee informed, and that the survivor's identity remain strictly protected throughout.