Chandigarh court denies 10-year-old’s plea for abortion

The Chandigarh district court refused abortion to a 26-week pregnant, 10-year-old rape survivor while upholding the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act which allows medical termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks only.

The girl who had been raped, allegedly by her maternal uncle, is not in the condition to deliver with doctors insisting that the “pelvic bones are not fully developed at this age”.

“Tolerating a full-term pregnancy is very risky. While normal delivery is ruled out, even a caesarian section at that age is dangerous,” a Times of India report quoted doctors as saying.

“I have not seen a 10-year-old girl pregnant ever before,” said Rashmi Bagga of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.

This isn’t the first case where termination of pregnancy has been sought. Another 10-year-old in Rohtak was allowed to abort her 18-22-week-old pregnancy by a local Rohtak court.

Despite the medical recommendation, the court has denied her plea for abortion.