The Delhi High Court has issued an order instructing All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to establish a medical board to assess a woman's request for a medical termination of her pregnancy at 22 weeks. This request comes after she decided to seek a divorce from her husband.

Justice Subramonium Prasad has noted that it is essential to form a Medical Board to evaluate two key aspects: first, to determine if it would be safe for the woman to undergo a pregnancy termination procedure conducted by a licensed medical practitioner, and second, to assess the condition of the fetus.

To fulfill this objective, the court is inclined to instruct the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, to promptly establish a Medical Board. The board's role is to assess the safety of the petitioner's pregnancy termination procedure and evaluate the condition of the fetus. The court has ordered that the report of the Medical Board, once formed, should be submitted to the court within 48 hours from today.

Justice Prasad has issued a notice in response to the plea filed by the 31-year-old woman who entered into marriage in June. She discovered that she was pregnant with a single intrauterine pregnancy just a month after getting married.

The woman's case is that she has been subjected to various forms of abuse since the early days of her marriage, including verbal, physical, mental, and emotional mistreatment by her husband at their matrimonial home. She claimed that her husband physically assaulted her for the first time in July, and the second instance occurred in August when she was three months pregnant. As a result of the August incident, the woman has been residing at her parents' home, and she has expressed her desire not to proceed with her pregnancy.

Although the court has provided relief to the woman, it has taken note of the fact that she has not filed any First Information Report (FIR) against her husband regarding the physical abuse, nor has she submitted any petition for divorce or judicial separation.

The court has referenced a Supreme Court decision in the case of X v. Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, Govt. of NCT of Delhi and Another. According to this decision, it is affirmed that each woman has the prerogative to assess her own life and determine the most appropriate course of action in light of changes in her circumstances. This underscores a woman's autonomy in making decisions about her life and health.

The court has referred to the opinion of the Supreme Court, which emphasizes that a change in material circumstances can occur when a woman separates from her partner, potentially leaving her without the financial resources to support the child. The Apex Court has explicitly included cases of domestic violence against women under Rule 3B(c) of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Rules. This rule allows a woman to terminate her pregnancy up to 24 weeks based on the grounds of a change in marital status during the ongoing pregnancy.

The case will be further heard on October 19th.

Case: Mrs. B. Vs. The Union of India and Anr. W.P.(C) 13371/2023.