Right of an Unmarried Woman to Abortion

 FACTS 

This is a case based on the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, of 1969 and its Rules of 2003. In this case, a 25-year-old unmarried woman in Delhi approached the High Court of Delhi to terminate 23 weeks of pregnancy out of a consensual relationship as her partner refused to marry her. She did not want to continue the pregnancy to the full term as she was wary of the social stigma and harassment pertaining to unmarried single parents, especially women.

The High Court of Delhi however did not allow her to terminate quoting that the Court cannot go beyond the Statute as Rule 3B of the MRTP Rules, 2003, excluded unmarried women. The women then approached the Supreme Court against this judgment of the Delhi High Court.

 WHAT DID THE COURT SAY? 

The Supreme Court after hearing the matter, passed an ad-interim order whereby directing that a Medical Board be set up by the AIIMS, Delhi based on whose report if the fetus can be aborted without dangering the life of the mother, a team of doctors of AIIMS shall carry out the abortion, with the written consent of the mother. The Court also said that the High Court took a narrow view in this case and failed to consider the Amendment of 2021 made to the MTP Act.

The Court said that the phrase ‘married woman’ was replaced by ‘any woman’ and the word ‘husband’ was replaced by ‘partner under Section 3 of the MTP Act’. But evidently, there is a gap in the law: while Section 3 travels beyond conventional relationships based on marriage, Rule 3B of the MTP Rules fails to consider a situation involving unmarried women but recognizes other categories of women such as divorcees, widows, minors, disabled and mentally ill women and survivors of sexual assault or rape. There is no basis to deny unmarried women the right to medically terminate the pregnancy when the same choice is available to other categories of women.

Earlier, the Supreme Court in the case of Suchita Srivastava v. Chandigarh Administration, recognized that a woman’s right to reproductive autonomy is a dimension of Article 21 of the Constitution and hence it's her choice. 

The Court also observed for the purpose of the MTP Act, rape includes ‘marital rape.’