Termination of minor’s pregnancy: In past, courts allowed Govt stand of carrying foetus to full term

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati made this argument on Thursday, too, in the curative plea filed by AIIMS, pressing for the 15-year-old rape survivor to carry the foetus for “four more weeks” in the interest of the minor as well as the foetus.

While the SC refused to entertain the plea in this case, courts have declined to allow the termination of pregnancy in other cases in the past, allowing the Centre’s stand.

In January 2024, the Delhi High Court recalled its order allowing a widow, who was then 32 weeks pregnant, to go for an abortion.

In July 2025, when the Delhi High Court allowed abortion for a 16-year-old rape survivor, AIIMS moved an appeal arguing that the termination of a pregnancy at over 27 weeks would be “akin to foeticide”. After the HC’s division bench “suggested” to the minor’s mother to consider the Centre’s stand, it was agreed that the 16-year-old would carry the pregnancy to full term.

On October 10, 2023, AIIMS had written to the Supreme Court in the case of a 27-year-old married woman seeking to end her 26-week pregnancy. The doctor’s email sought a directive on whether “foeticide” must be performed to give effect to the judicial order allowing termination. After receiving the AIIMS report, the same two-judge SC bench was split on allowing the abortion. One of the judges, Justice Hima Kohli, had asked which court would say “stop the foetal heartbeat”.

A larger three-judge bench then rescinded the order on abortion, observing that “we cannot kill a child”.

However, in April 2024, the SC allowed a 14-year-old minor, a sexual assault survivor, to terminate her pregnancy at 31 weeks. The minor had said that she discovered her pregnancy at around 25 weeks. The Bombay HC initially denied termination because it exceeded the 24-week statutory limit, but subsequently allowed it when the state government consented. As the pregnancy progressed to 30 weeks, a hospital in Mumbai, through ASG Aishwarya Bhati, expressed caution and sought guidance, citing the mother’s “changing statements” and the medical risks associated with foeticide via intracardiac injection at such an advanced stage.

The SC allowed the termination, noting the medical advice that though termination of pregnancy at this stage was risky, there was a greater threat to the minor’s life if the pregnancy continued to its full term.

The opinion of doctors is crucial since the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act allows termination of pregnancy only on the advice of doctors. Medical termination of pregnancies is allowed up to 24 weeks. After 24 weeks, the MTP Act requires a medical board to be set up in “approved facilities”, which may allow termination of pregnancy only if there is a substantial foetal abnormality. The process of setting up such a medical board is often cumbersome, which leads to women approaching the courts.