IMPORTANT POINT
Pregnancy can be terminated even in advanced stage in appropriate cases.

ORDER

1. Petitioner No.1 – Meera Santosh Pal, is 22 years old, has approached this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India seeking directions to the respondents to allow her to undergo medical termination of her pregnancy. She apprehended danger to her life, having discovered that her fetus was diagnosed with Anencephaly, a defect that leaves foetal skull bones unformed and is both untreatable and certain to cause the infant’s death during or shortly after birth. This condition is also known to endanger the mother’s life.

2. By order dated 11.1.2017, while issuing notice to the respondents, this Court gave a direction for examination of petitioner no.1 by a Medical Board consisting of the following seven Doctors :

1. Dr. Avinash N. Supe, Director (Medical Education & Major Hospitals) & Dean (G&K) – Chairman

2. Dr. Shubhangi Parkar, Professor and HOD, Psychiatry, KEM Hospital

3. Dr. Amar Pazare, professor and HOD, Medicine, KEM Hosptial

4. Dr. Indrani Hemantkumar Chincholi, Professor and HOD, Anaesthesia, KEM Hospital

5. Dr. Y.S. Nandanwar, Professor and HOD, Obstetrics, KEM Hospitals

6. Dr. Anahita Chauhan, Professor and Unit Head, Obstetrics & Gynecology, LTMMC and LTMG Hospitals

7. Dr. Hemangini Thakkar, Addl. Professor, Radiology, KEM Hospital.

3. As on 12.1.2017, she was into her 24th week of pregnancy. This is also borne by the report dated 12.1.2017, received from the Director (ME & MH)'s Office, Seth G.S. Medical College & KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai – 400 012.

4. By its report dated 12.1.2017, the Medical Board has examined petitioner no.1 with specific reference to their special expertise for general, medical, radiological, psychiatric and anaesthetic evaluation. An obstetric evaluation was done by two Obstetricians. Ultrasonography was performed at KEM Hospital on 12.1.2017 by the Additional Professor, Radiology. The said Board has further reported that obstetric examination shows 24 weeks pregnancy, external ballottement present, fetal parts not well felt with mild polyhydramnios. On internal examination, the cervix is posterior and OS is closed. Ultrasonography diagnosis has revealed a single live fetus with anencephaly with mild polyhydramnios with hypotelorism.

5. We have been informed that the fetus is without a skull and would, therefore, not be in a position to survive. It is also submitted that petitioner no.1 has undergone psychiatric evaluation. She is reported to be coherent, has average intelligence and with good comprehension. She understands that her fetus is abnormal and the risk of fetal mortality is high. She also has the support of her husband in her decision making.

6. Upon evaluation of petitioner no.1, the aforesaid Medical Board has concluded that her current pregnancy is of about 24 weeks. The condition of the fetus is not compatible with extra-uterine life. In other words, the fetus would not be able to survive outside the uterus.

7. Importantly, it is reported that the continuation of pregnancy can gravely endanger the physical and mental health of petitioner no.1 and the risk of her termination of pregnancy is within acceptable limits with institutional back up.

8. This Court, as at present being advised, would not enter into the medico-legal aspect of the identity of the fetus but consider it appropriate to decide the matter from the standpoint of the right of petitioner no.1 to preserve her life in view of the foreseeable danger to it, in case she allows the current pregnancy to run its full course. The medical evidence clearly suggests that there is no point in allowing the pregnancy to run its full course since the fetus would not be able to survive outside the uterus without a skull.

9. In Suchita Srivastava and Anr. vs. Chandigarh Administration [(2009) 9 SCC 1], a bench of three Judges held “a woman’s right to make reproductive choices is also a dimension of ‘personal liberty’ as understood under Article 21 of the Constitution”. The Court there dealt with the importance of the c