SC sets up doctors panel on plea to abort six month pregnancy

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday set up a panel of seven doctors to examine and ascertain the medical condition of a Kolkata-based expectant mother seeking the termination of her 24-week-old pregnancy.

A vacation bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul asked the panel from Kolkata's Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research (SSKM Hospital) to submit its report by June 29 when the court would hear the matter.

The parents have moved the top court seeking to abort the pregnancy on the grounds that foetus suffers from such abnormalities which may endanger the health of the mother.

The top court's order came as West Bengal government told the vacation bench that it has decided to get the mother and the foetus medically examined by a team of doctors.

The court also pursued a medical report which said that child born with such abnormalities may not survive even the first surgery.

The parents have also challenged the constitutional validity of Section 3(2)(b) of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 that prohibits termination of pregnancy beyond 20 weeks, contending that restriction could have been reasonable in 1971 when the law was enacted but today with technological advancement, it was perfectly safe to undergo MTP even up to 26 weeks.

"The ceiling of 20 weeks is therefore arbitrary, harsh, discriminatory and violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution," they said.

The court had on Wednesday sought the response of the Central and the West Bengal governments on their plea.