look news india
Mumbai: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to prepare a standard operating procedure (SOP) to deal with cases related to abortion after 24 weeks.
Chief Justice Upadhyay and Hon. The Sambri bench, in an order passed on April 5, said the amended Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act allows abortion even after 24 weeks in cases of severe fetal abnormalities.
Under the amended law, the government is required to set up a medical board in each district of the state, which will have the power to decide whether abortion is performed after 24 weeks.
The hearing was going on on the petition of a woman seeking termination of her 32-week pregnancy due to deformity in the fetus. According to the petition, Wardha General Hospital informed the woman about the fetal abnormality during the 24-week scan.
Giving relief to the woman, the court said that it is sad that instead of sending the woman to the medical board, the hospital asked her to go to the court and seek permission for abortion.
As per the scheme under the amended provision of the MTP Act, a woman does not need to seek court permission for abortion after 24 weeks.
The court directed the state public health department and the medical education and drug department to prepare SOPs as per the advice of experts to be issued to all government hospitals and medical colleges. We hope that the hearing will be fixed on June 12, in which the government will be directed to notify this SOP within two months.
After the SOP is implemented, it will be ensured that no woman comes to the court to seek permission. The court allowed the woman to undergo abortion and directed Wardha General Hospital to bear the expenses.