The Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down a request by a 26-year-old woman seeking permission to abort her 32-week pregnancy, citing mental trauma and depression after the death of her husband.

The top court held that courts have a duty to take care of the interests of both, a mother and an unborn child, an observation that came after a medical board from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), which examined the petitioner, said that an abortion at this stage would endanger the woman’s health and cause the child to be born anyway but with the likelihood of severe disabilities.

The order strikes at the heart of the complicated question around abortion and its timing. The law allows pregnancies to be terminated on the advice of a doctor up till 24 weeks of a pregnancy, but cases that have surpassed this gestation period have also been accepted by courts, especially when there is likelihood of severe harm to the mother.

Advocate Rahul Sharma, the petitioner’s lawyer, had said: “We should think about the mother and not the unborn foetus. She is a widow and she does not want to live with this trauma. This pregnancy is against her choice and wish that will cause further trauma.”

Dismissing the petition filed by the woman, referred as ‘P’, the Court noted that a medical board comprising doctors from AIIMS had examined her following an order of the Delhi high court. Finding the foetus to be normal, the high court went by the medical experts’ opinion and dismissed her plea. The woman challenged the HC’s order of January 23 before the top court.

The top court bench headed by justice Bela M Trivedi said, “There is no abnormality in the foetus. It has been found to be a full-fledged, normal-bodied child. This is not the case we should entertain.”

The bench, also comprising justice Prasanna B Varale said: “We have to take care of both – the foetus and the mother,” as it dismissed the petition.

The Court further noted that the Delhi high court had directed the Central or state government to take care of all her medical expenses if she chose to deliver the baby in a government-run hospital. The Centre assured that if the woman was willing to give the child up for adoption, she will be fully assisted in this regard.

“It is just a question of another two weeks or so. Even the government is willing to take the child in adoption. The medical board says her life will be at risk in a pre-term pregnancy. We cannot permit it. All these points have been considered by the high court,” the court said in its order.

This case caught the attention of the Delhi high court on two occasions. On January 4, the HC first permitted the petitioner to undergo abortion upon her mental examination at AIIMS’s department of Psychiatry that found her suffering from severe depression with suicidal ideation. However, on January 6 the HC received a letter from AIIMS claiming that the child will be born alive after delivery and there is a reasonable risk of physical and mental handicap to the newborn.

Following this, the Centre and AIIMS filed applications to recall the January 4 order which led to another round of litigation. The high court sought yet another report from AIIMS to know whether the petitioner will be in a position to deliver the child considering her mental state of mind. The doctors even came to the high court and proceedings were held in-camera.

Recalling its earlier order, the HC on January 23 said, “The Medical Board is of the opinion that since the foetus does not show any abnormality, feticide in this case is neither justified nor ethical.”

Further, the board had opined that a preterm induction of labour has a high chance of failure and may have serious implications on the petitioner’s future pregnancies. Also, the child born after a preterm induction of labour can have physical and mental deficiencies that will have drastic effect on the future of the child.

The HC order further said, “If the petitioner is inclined to give the newborn child in adoption, then as suggested by additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati, the Union of India shall ensure that the process of adoption takes place at the earliest and in a smooth fashion.”