Delhi HC allows woman to medically terminate abnormal foetus

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday allowed a woman''s plea seeking termination of her over 23 week old pregnancy after a medical report from AIIMS endorsed the procedure in view of complications associated with birth of the baby.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan said in view of the report submitted by AIIMS, it was allowing the plea which had claimed that the foetus was abnormal as it suffers from "spina bifida and Arnold Chiari Syndrome defect" which results in the spinal cord being outside the body and the brain tissue extending into the spinal canal.

The foetus also has other abnormalities like a deformed skull and a heart defect, the petition filed through advocate Sneha Mukherjee had said.

The bench said it would give detailed reasons for its decision later and disposed of the matter.

On July 10, the high court had referred the woman''s case to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for setting up a panel of experts to examine her and the foetus to ascertain whether it would be safe to terminate the pregnancy.

AIIMS in its report has said in view of complications associated with child birth in the instant case medical termination of pregnancy be can be permitted.