Explained | How will the Supreme Court ruling on abortion impact women?
The HinduThe story so far: Last week, the Supreme Court of India allowed an unmarried woman to end her pregnancy at 24 weeks, after the Delhi High Court refused to allow it, citing the provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. The 25-year-old unmarried woman came to the Supreme Court on appeal after the Delhi High Court turned down her plea to allow her to have a medical termination of her pregnancy because the terms of her relationship with her partner had changed. The Delhi High Court had taken the view that she was unmarried and since the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act allowed only married women to terminate the pregnancy after 20 weeks, she would not be eligible to get an abortion. While disallowing her petition, the Delhi High Court ordered notice to the government on the woman’s contention that not allowing an unmarried woman to get rid of her unwanted pregnancy was per se discriminatory.