Forcing a woman to continue pregnancy violates bodily integrity: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court said that forcing a woman to continue with an unwanted pregnancy violates her bodily integrity and aggravates mental trauma.

The court was discharging an estranged wife from a criminal case filed by her husband over the medical termination of a 14-week pregnancy.

Justice Neena Bansal Krishna ruled that the woman could not be said to have committed an offence under Section 312 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with causing miscarriage. The court underscored that a woman’s freedom of choice is a facet of personal autonomy and that control over reproduction is a basic right.

The judge noted that the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act does not require a woman to obtain her husband’s consent for an abortion and that the law is guided by concern for grave injury to a woman’s physical and mental health.

The court said that if a woman does not wish to continue a pregnancy, compelling her to do so would harm her mental health.

The woman had challenged a sessions court order that upheld her summoning by a magisterial court. She argued that her reproductive autonomy under Article 21 had been criminalised. The husband claimed that since the couple was living together at the time, there was no marital discord. The court rejected this, saying marital discord cannot be narrowly interpreted to exist only after separation or litigation.

Observing the social and financial burdens placed on women, the court said an unwanted pregnancy can cause insurmountable difficulties and grave mental trauma. It added that a change in material circumstances affecting mental health entitles a woman to seek termination under the MTP framework.