Today, the Supreme Court requested a report from the AIIMS medical board regarding the potential abnormalities in the 26-week fetus of a married woman who is seeking authorization for a pregnancy termination.

A bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud , Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra was hearing arguments on the Centre's application seeking recall of the top court's October 9 granting permission to  27-year-old woman, a mother of two, to undergo termination of pregnancy at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)

"Though the earlier report which has been submitted by AIIMS does mention that the foetus is normal, nonetheless, in order to place the matter beyond doubt, we request that a further report be submitted on the above aspect," the Court said.

During the course of hearing, the Court observe that the woman had been receiving treatment for symptoms of postpartum psychosis since the previous year.

The bench asked the medical board to inform the Supreme Court if there was any indication that the petitioner's pregnancy might be at risk due to the medications prescribed for the conditions she is reported to be experiencing.

Further, the Court specified that the doctors at AIIMS have the freedom to conduct their own separate assessment of both the mental and physical well-being of the petitioner.

"On doing so, we request the doctors to apprise this court, if the petitioner is found to be suffering from postpartum psychosis, whether any alternate administration of medication consistent with the pregnancy would be available so as to neither jeopardise the well-being of the petitioner or the foetus in that regard," the bench said.

The Supreme Court mentioned that this evaluation could be conducted during the day, and the medical board's report should be presented to the court on October 16, which is the next scheduled date for the hearing.

Earlier, the Court held that "we cannot kill the child" and stressed on the need to balance the rights of an unborn child with the right to autonomy of the mother who has sought to abort the healthy foetus on account of her own ill health.