Calcutta HC gives woman permission to abort 24-week 'abnormal' foetus
Kolkata, Jan 14 (IBNS): A bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday granted permission to a pregnant lady to abort her 24-week foetus on the ground of abnormality.
Earlier, a couple from south Kolkata's Jodhpur Park area had appealed before the Calcutta HC seeking permission to abort their 24-week-old foetus on abnormality ground.
While hearing the petition, Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty had asked the woman to appear before a medical team of state-run SSKM hospital for medical tests and also directed the hospital authority as well as Additional Advocate General to file a report before the court.
The woman appeared before SSKM's medical team on Saturday and after examining her, the director of Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research (IPGMER) and Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital (SSKM) filed a medical report before the single-judge bench on Monday.
After going through the report, Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty gave the middle aged woman permission to abort her 24-week abnormal foetus.
In India, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 permits termination of pregnancy or abortion for a broad range of conditions up to 20 weeks of gestation and if the deadline is crossed, court's permission is required to abort the foetus.
Earlier in 2017, the Supreme Court had granted permission to a pregnant woman to abort her 28-week-old foetus on the same ground.
(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
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