THE PUNJAB and Haryana High Court has “advised” the Centre to amend the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, to prevent doctors from unnecessary prosecution if they act as per rules in good faith to save life of a rape victim or to prevent grave injury to her physical and mental health by terminating her pregnancy. Justice Paramjeet Singh Dhaliwal issued the directions while observing that the MTP Act is “an inadequate Act and only appears to have been designed to serve the interest of the family planning programme”. Under the MTP Act, women have a restricted right to termination of pregnancy, said the court. The directions came while requesting the director of AIIMS, New Delhi, to constitute a medical board at the earliest to explore the possibility of pregnancy termination of a minor rape victim from Haryana, aged 14, beyond the legally permissible gestation period of 20 weeks. The medical board of PGIMER, Chandigarh, had found the victim on May 3 as “pregnant female with gestation age 22 to 24 weeks”. Justice Dhaliwal observed that most of the doctors try to remain within law and do not consider the peculiar circumstances of the case before them. “This court is of the view that the fear of chilling effect of prosecution needs to be removed from the mind of doctors,” said the court, adding that some abortions are necessary beyond the statutory limit in the light of circumstances under which they are sought and, therefore, we require to streamline the system in this regard. The court found that the rape victim had threatened to commit suicide if the pregnancy, which was causing her a lot of mental anguish and embarrassment in society as per her understanding, was not allowed to be terminated. [related-post] “Terminating pregnancy at advanced stage, say 28 weeks, may not be advisable as this may be high-risk pregnancy. We can make an attempt to draw a line at 24 weeks, as this period is fixed by the statutes in various other countries. Even Draft Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2014 is pending in Parliament, according to which decision to allow abortion between 20 and 24 weeks can be taken in good faith by the competent person. The revision of the legal limit for termination of pregnancy is long due. In fact, medical technology has leaped beyond the MTP Act and assumptions of medical ethics,” said Justice Dhaliwal. The court remarked that the woman has an exclusive and inalienable right over her body and her reproduction, and that cannot be transferred to her family or the state. “This is more relevant in our country where child-bearing is governed by social mores,” the court observed. Justice Dhaliwal has ordered the Haryana government to deposit Rs 5 lakh in fixed deposit in the rape victim’s name as damages and expenses as the officers at the helm of affairs failed to act with due diligence in her case. Principal Secretary of Haryana Health Department has been ordered to deposit Rs 5,000 per month in the victim’s account for food and medical expenses for one year. The court made it clear that amounts awarded by the court are in addition to the entitlement as per provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The AIIMS authorities have been directed to provide all required facilities to the victim. However, the court has ordered that if the medical board rules out the termination of pregnancy at this stage and the victim expresses unwillingness to keep the child, efforts should be made to make arrangements for the adoption of child by involving the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).
