An unborn child has its own life: The Kerala High Court dismisses a petition seeking to end a 31-week pregnancy
In the absence of any threat to the mother’s life or health, the Kerala High Court recently held that when a Medical Board determines that terminating a pregnancy may result in a live baby and that the foetal abnormalities diagnosed are not lethal, the mother’s reproductive choice must give way to the unborn’s right to be born.
While dismissing the petition for 31-week pregnancy termination, Justice P.B Suresh Kumar stated that; the unborn has life from the time it turns into a fetus, and; that there is no reason to treat an unborn kid differently from a born child.
Unborn children have lives and rights of their own, and their rights are recognized by law. Without a doubt, the right to life of the unborn can only be equated with the basic right of the mother provided under Article 21 of the Constitution if the foetus can be treated as a person.”
The observation was made in a case where a pregnant woman with a gestational gestation of roughly 31 weeks requested that the respondents order her pregnancy to be terminated.
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act’s scheme was that; a pregnancy could not be medically terminated after 20 weeks; even if the circumstances listed in Section 3(2) were present.
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