Denying Abortion To Rape Victims Is Denial Of ‘Right To Live With Dignity’: Delhi HC
Delhi HC made a strong point.
Rape ruins a woman’s life on so many levels, it is hard to even fathom it. The trauma that comes with this crime, it is only the victim who has to carry it for the rest of their life. There have been rape cases when the perpetrator has also left the woman pregnant. In such cases, the woman obviously wants to abort the child but if she is unable to, it causes more stress and adds to the long list of pressures she will have to undergo. Offering some relief in such cases, the Delhi High Court said that in rape cases where the victim ends up pregnant, she has the right to choose to terminate the foetus.
As per reports, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said that the rape victim has the right to abort the foetus, and the pregnancy should not be imposed on her as it will deny her the human right to live her life with dignity. The judge said that the woman has a right to choose if she wants to be a mother or not. Furthermore, Justice Sharma said that if the woman is forced to give birth to a child who is of the man who sexually assaulted her, it would cause ‘unexplainable miseries’ to her.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma also said that section 3 (2) (i) of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (MTP) also takes into account the mental health of the rape victim. And therefore, on the basis of the same, the victim has the right to abort the foetus which had she had forcibly conceived.
The judge recently permitted the abortion of a 14-year-old rape victim. She was 25 weeks pregnant.
Also read: Delhi HC’s Justice Rajiv Shakdher Says False Cases Not A Reason To Not Strike Down Unconstitutional Marital Rape Exception
This was the much important aspect of the MTP Act that the judge shed light on. The social stigma that comes with rape is unbelievable as people think that the crime is not the man’s but the woman’s fault. In such cases, forcibly making the woman keep the baby by making the pro-life argument is just stupid. And it is also sad that people will think so much about that unborn child but will not think once about the violated consent of the woman.
