NEW DELHI (LifeSiteNews) — The Delhi High Court has upheld the “right” to abortion in case of a marital dispute.
Last week, the court ruled in favor of a wife who had aborted her baby 14 weeks into her pregnancy. According to the Indian legal news site Verdictum, the married couple had serious marital disputes (marital discord) when the wife decided to abort the child without her husband’s knowledge in a hospital after getting approval from a doctor.
The husband sued her, accusing her of cheating him by hiding income from him and emotionally manipulating him into paying for a very costly wedding. He also sued her for illegally causing a miscarriage, which is a crime under certain circumstances under Section 312 of the Indian Penal Code.
A lower court summoned her to face trial, and while the Revisional Court discharged her from most accusations, it upheld the summon regarding the abortion under Section 312 of the Indian Penal Code.
The wife appealed to the Delhi High Court, which discharged her, meaning she would not have to stand trial.
Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said in her ruling, “In the light of aforesaid discussion, when the Apex Court in its aforementioned judgments, has recognized the autonomy of a woman to seek abortion in the situation of a marital discord which can impact her mental health, and also the provision of Section 3 MTP Act and the Rules framed therein, it cannot be said that an offence under Section 312 IPC was committed by the Petitioner.”
“The women’s [so-called] reproductive rights may include the right to legal and safe abortion, the right to birth control, freedom from coerced sterilization and contraception, the right to access good quality reproductive health care and informed reproductive choice.”
“The very fact that the woman was stressed and felt that there was a marital discord, created a situation where such stress was likely to impact her mental health and therefore, she was competent to seek her abortion. The concerned Doctor also mentioned in the OPD Card that in view of the judgments of September, 2022, abortion cannot be denied and she went ahead with the abortion,” the court stated.
However, abortion, in addition to killing an innocent unborn baby in the womb, is linked to serious mental health problems for women who undergo the murderous practice.
In the cited decision from September 2022, India’s top court ruled that all women, regardless of marital status, would be able to lawfully abort their unborn children up until week 24 of pregnancy.
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