Read Karnataka HC's Guidelines For Rape Survivors' Abortion Rights

The Karnataka High Court has said that rape survivors should be promptly made aware of their right to abortion so that later on they don't have to knock on the doors of the High Court to abort a belated pregnancy. The court has dispensed certain rules and directions for the authorities to follow so that rape survivors do not have to undergo the mental trauma of aborting a belated pregnancy. 

Justice Suraj Govindaraj was on the bench when the High Court came across the case of a 17-year-old rape survivor wanting to abort 24-week-old pregnancy. While the court allowed the survivor to terminate the pregnancy, it made this observation that the father of the rape survivor wouldn't have to approach the High Court or go through the mental trauma of seeking an abortion at a belated stage of the rape survivor was aware of her rights to abortion. 

The mental trauma that rape survivors undergo

The court said, "There is severe mental trauma which is caused to the petitioner as also her family members ... can well be avoided if, at the time of registration of the FIR itself, her rights as regards termination of medical pregnancy caused out of such sexual offences are conveyed to both the victim and her family."

Subsequently, the court has issued a set of guidelines for cases involving pregnancy out of rape. The guidelines are as follows

Guidelines to ensure rape survivors are aware of abortion rights

1. As soon as the sexual offence of rape is reported, the rape survivor should be made to undergo a medical check-up to find pregnancy. If the survivor is pregnant, other check-ups like gestational period, her physical and mental status, the ability to undergo a medical termination of pregnancy etc should be conducted.
2. If the survivor is pregnant, the Investigation Officer should inform the Child Welfare Committee and/or District Child Protection Unit which will then inform the rape survivor about the legal options and consequences of terminating or continuing the pregnancy. 
3. The counselling of the rape survivor should be done in the language known by the survivor. 
4. If the pregnancy is terminated, the tissue sample of the fetus should be sent to the forensic labs for a DNA test. 
5. Follow-up checkups should done of the survivor to ensure mental and physical well-being. 

The Director General of Police along with the Principal Secretary of Health of the Karnataka government has been asked to prepare a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which should contain a committee of experts.