ON APRIL 30, the Supreme Court brought to a close a significant reproductive rights case in recent Indian legal history by declining to hear a curative petition filed by All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi (‘AIIMS ‘) against the Court’s earlier order permitting the medical termination of a seven-month pregnancy of a 15-year-old girl. The minor was said to have attempted to commit suicide on two occasions since the factum of pregnancy was revealed to her.
Additional Solicitor General (‘ASG’) Aishwarya Bhati, representing AIIMS, argued that there was a high likelihood of the foetus being born alive if the procedure went ahead at the stage, and warned that the termination could cause irreversible health complications for the minor girl. However, the bench comprising Chief Justice of India (‘CJI’) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi underscored the reproductive autonomy of women while allowing the termination. Despite the pregnancy having crossed the statutory limit, the Court held that compelling a minor to continue an unwanted pregnancy would violate her rights to dignity, autonomy, and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Bhati had argued that what the Supreme Court would decide in this case would become the law of the land. Notably, the CJI remarked, "This should have been the law of the land in 2014*, when this Court unnecessarily interfered! What kind of...we are forcing a rape victim only because law does not adequately protect her? This is the unfortunate jurisprudence that at one point developed!"
In the present case, the pregnancy arose out of a consensual relationship between two minors. According to the law, however, owing to the girl’s minority, this is treated as rape.
