New Delhi, It’s truly a matter of life and death-not pandemic related, but otherwise- and the Indian capital stole the show.
At a time when feminist groups are fighting worldwide long and hard against the evangelist outfits to convince lawmakers to support women’s reproductive rights, Delhi High Court on Monday, braving Indian law, allowed a woman to medically end her 25-week pregnancy, as survival of the fetus suffering from serious abnormalities, was unlikely.
The Court allowed the petition by the 25-year-old woman who was seeking permission to abort the fetus on the ground that it was suffering from “Bilateral Agenesis and Anlyaramni” (both kidneys absent).
The Court had earlier set up a medical board at AIIMS to examine the condition of the woman, whose fetus was suffering from complicated and serious abnormalities.
Informatively, country’s Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act allows abortions up to 20 weeks and an amendment extending this period to 24 weeks and no upper gestational limit for fetal abnormalities had just secured Cabinet approval when Covid-19 struck.
Incidentally, women in Ireland, which voted in 2018 to allow abortion, are increasingly turning against a restrictive clause permitting abortion only up to 12 weeks.
Meanwhile, Argentina’s recent legalisation of abortion up to the 14th week of pregnancy is ” a shot in the arm” for women activists.
“Argentina’s shift, and now the ‘bravery’ of Delhi High Court, can now persuade the South American holdouts,” an ardent feminist, on condition of anonymity, maintained.