Court Says 19-Year-Old Mature Enough To Know Consequences Of Unprotected Sex, Denies Abortion

Court Denies Abortion: The Gwalior bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court recently denied permission for medical termination of pregnancy to a 19-year-old woman. As per reports, the woman is 12 weeks pregnant and has alleged that one Rocky raped her on the pretext of marriage.

The woman told court that she was in a physical relationship with a man for the last 4-5 years. She alleged that the man impregnated her and refused to marry her despite promising. Hence she sought permission to terminate her pregnancy. The court also took notice of the fact that the woman was deep in love with the man and was having consensual sex with him.

The Bench headed by Justice G.S. Ahluwalia refused to permit the abortion. He said, "The petitioner is aged about 19 years, therefore, she is mature enough to realize the consequences of consensual sex without any precaution."

As per LiveLaw, the 1971 Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act's Sub-section (2) of Section 3 states that pregnancy exceeding beyond 12 weeks and shorter than 20 weeks can be terminated only if at least two doctors advice it or if the pregnant woman is at a serious health risk either mentally or physically. If a woman conceives after rape then also abortion is allowed.

In the 19-year-old woman's case, the court ruled that she was having consensual sex with one Rocky. The court added, "The petitioner is a major girl knowing fully well the pros and cons of consensual sex without any precaution. Even the FIR was lodged after it was detected that the petitioner is pregnant."

"This Court is of the considered opinion that since the petitioner involved herself in a consensual sex knowing fully well about the consequences of such act, and the allegations made in FIR, do not prima facie make out a case of consent obtained by misrepresentation of fact, therefore, under these circumstances, medical termination of pregnancy cannot be permitted."