Bombay HC to examine pregnancy termination beyond 24 weeks at private hospitals
Bombay HC to assess if pregnancies beyond 24 weeks can be terminated at private hospitals by chosen doctor, respecting woman's right to choose.
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court is poised to assess whether pregnancies beyond 24 weeks can be terminated at private hospitals by a woman’s chosen doctor.
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act restricts terminations beyond 24 weeks to cases of severe foetal abnormalities, typically performed only in government hospitals. However, the court will now deliberate on whether such procedures can occur in private institutions, respecting a woman’s right to choose her doctor.
The case emerged during a hearing presided over by Justices AS Chandurkar and Jitendra Jain, prompted by a 37-year-old woman from Thane. Having received permission from the medical board of government-run JJ Hospital to terminate her 27-week pregnancy due to a congenital heart abnormality in the foetus, the woman sought to do the procedure with her chosen doctor, Dr Nikhil Datar, at a private hospital.
That’s when she learnt that the existing law mandates terminations beyond 24 weeks to occur solely at government hospitals or government-approved institutions. It also doesn’t allow private hospitals to seek approval to perform the procedure, forcing her to perform the procedure in a government facility.
This prompted the woman to challenge this restriction as a violation of her constitutional right to life. “The anguish of a woman being compelled to deliver a foetus that will not survive or will be severely handicapped amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” and also violative of her constitutional rights, she underlined in her plea.
Dr Datar, a well-known gynaecologist and also the co-petitioner, said the petition was filed in the absence of clarity on a woman’s right to choose a hospital or doctor to do the termination post 24 weeks of pregnancy.
“The major heart abnormality in the foetus was detected in the 26th-27th week of pregnancy. While the medical board at JJ Hospital allowed termination of the pregnancy, the patient wanted me to do it under my care and was not willing to do it at JJ Hospital,” said Dr Datar, who further explained that there is no provision made for a qualified private set-up to apply for a licence to perform termination of pregnancy beyond 24 weeks.
“In such case, the woman has no choice but to go to the government hospital where the medical board has examined and given permission for the termination,” he said.
Dr Datar further said that the report of JJ Hospital’s medical board says that his patient can terminate the pregnancy, and if the child is born alive then it should be kept in the neonatal intensive care unit.
“You are terminating the pregnancy for it being abnormal. And simultaneously you are resuscitating the child so that it stays alive. Then why are we going ahead with the MTP? You need to first stop the foetal heart sound and then do the termination of pregnancy. In fact, the central government’s guidelines categorically mention this. That part the government hospital report has not mentioned only,” said Dr Datar.
Responding to the court’s inquiry about the feasibility of involving Dr Datar in the procedure at a government hospital, Advocate General Birendra Saraf, representing the state, cited the typical restriction on private doctors operating in government facilities. However, the court pressed for further exploration of this option.
The court will now deliberate on the matter on April 23 at 1 pm.