9 in 10 abortion petitions succeed in Bombay HC. A rare bright spot in Indian judiciary

When it comes to medical termination of pregnancy, the Bombay High Court almost always provides timely relief to the litigant.

Srikanth Rajkumar and Gokul Sunoj
09 March, 2026

She is a 14-year-old girl from a remote village in Maharashtra. A POCSO survivor, she had stayed silent about the repeated assaults against her. It was barely a month ago that a medical examination confirmed her pregnancy. Already past the 24-week statutory window for a legal termination, she found every door shut. The medical board didn’t allow it, citing a lack of authority. The Maharashtra government opposed termination outright, pushing instead for delivery and adoption. With nowhere left to turn, she walked to the doors of the Bombay High Court.

The judge wasted no time. He listed her matter as “First on Board,” held hearings on consecutive days, and met with her in private. In unequivocal recognition of her pain, the court allowed her to terminate her pregnancy. The court also ordered that if the procedure failed and a child was born, neonatal care would be provided at the government’s expense, with the state government stepping in for adoption.

Continued: https://theprint.in/opinion/counting-on-law/abortion-petitions-bombay-hc-indian-judiciary/2873486/

09.03.2026

Commentary

Bombay High Court

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

POSCO Act

Suchita Srivastava v. Chandigarh AdministrationX v. State of Maharashtra

India – Forcing woman to continue with pregnancy violates her autonomy: Delhi HC quashes case against woman for lawful abortion

Here is the decision itself.
Decisions about pregnancy and the control over their body, fertility and motherhood choices should be left to the woman alone.

Prashant Jha
09 Jan 2026

The Delhi High Court recently observed that forcing a woman to continue with the pregnancy violates her bodily autonomy and integrity [Sanya Bhasin v The State & Anr].

Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said that the decisions about pregnancy and the control over their body, fertility and motherhood choices should be left to the woman alone.

Continued: https://www.barandbench.com/news/forcing-woman-to-continue-with-pregnancy-violates-her-autonomy-delhi-hc-quashes-case-against-woman-for-lawful-abortion

09.01.2026

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

MTP Act

Neena Bansal Krishna

Sanya Bhasin v The State & Anr

INDIA – Married woman’s consent alone matters for abortion, says Punjab and Haryana High Court

The court was hearing a plea by the petitioner seeking permission to terminate her pregnancy in the second trimester

Jan 1, 2026

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that the consent of a married woman alone is sufficient for a medical termination of pregnancy, allowing a 21-year-old woman from Punjab to undergo an abortion without her husband’s approval.

The court was hearing a plea by the petitioner seeking permission to terminate her pregnancy in the second trimester. She told the court that she married on May 2, 2025, and that her relationship with her husband had been turbulent.

Continued: https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/married-womans-consent-alone-matters-for-abortion-says-punjab-and-haryana-high-court/cid/2140587

01.01.2026

News

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

Punjab and Haryana High Court

spousal consent for abortion

Delhi HC seeks clarity in medical reports for abortions beyond 24 weeks

By Shruti Kakkar, New Delhi
Dec 21, 2025

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma issued directions while hearing a minor rape survivor’s plea, flagging vague medical opinions and procedural lapses by CWC and IOs.

The Delhi High Court has directed medical boards assessing requests for termination of pregnancy beyond 24 weeks to submit clear and specific reports detailing the exact gestational age, the victim’s physical and mental fitness to undergo the procedure, and whether termination would pose any risk to the victim’s life.

continued: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news/delhi-hc-seeks-clarity-in-medical-reports-for-abortions-beyond-24-weeks-101766253970877.html

21.12.2025

News

abortion after 24 weeks

Child Welfare Committee

Delhi High Court

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

minors' access to abortion

India – Court Ruling And UK Report Ignite Abortion Safety Debate

A deadly illegal abortion case in India and new research on childlessness in the UK spotlight urgent questions over abortion safety, consent, and long-term consequences.

23 November 2025

On November 13, 2025, the Gauhati High Court in India delivered a landmark judgment that has sent shockwaves through both legal and public health circles. The Court upheld the conviction and seven-year rigorous imprisonment of an elderly woman for causing the death of an eight-month pregnant woman during a crude and illegal abortion procedure. This grim case, marked by the use of a fishing hook to forcibly extract the fetus, highlights the dangers of unauthorized abortion practices and the legal system’s determination to hold perpetrators accountable, regardless of age or intent.

The facts of the case, as reported by LiveLaw, are harrowing. The victim, already a mother of five, sought help from the appellant to terminate her late-stage pregnancy. Instead of directing her to a qualified medical facility, the appellant—who possessed no medical training—administered crude abortifacient substances and, in a shocking escalation, used a fishing hook to attempt the abortion. The result was catastrophic: massive hemorrhage, septicemia, and ultimately, the young mother’s death.

Continued: https://evrimagaci.org/gpt/court-ruling-and-uk-report-ignite-abortion-safety-debate-517413

24.11.2025

News

Gauhati High Court

Justice Kaushik Goswami

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

India – Sons at any cost

Three decades after the PCPNDT Act, sex determination rackets thrive across India, proving laws alone can’t defeat a son-obsessed culture.

Oct 19, 2025
Vitasta Kaul

In September 2025, Karnataka’s Health Department conducted a covert operation in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh to prevent a woman from undergoing illegal prenatal sex determination. The 30-year-old from Mandya district, already a mother of three daughters, had approached an agent across the State border after learning she could determine the sex of her foetus. When told the foetus was female, she planned to terminate the pregnancy in her fifth month. Officials from both States coordinated a decoy operation that dismantled the illegal network facilitating these cross-border procedures.

It was not an isolated case. In April, Haryana’s Rohtak district authorities busted a sex-determination racket operating out of neighbouring Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh. Over 120 FIRs have been registered this year in the State for illegal abortion practices, including unlawful sale of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) kits, while nearly 300 of Haryana’s 1,500 MTP centres have had their registration cancelled or voluntarily surrendered. In Ahmedabad, a June raid uncovered a radiologist and nurse conducting sex-determination tests and abortions at guesthouses and patients’ homes.

Continued: https://frontline.thehindu.com/social-issues/illegal-sex-determination-india-pcpndt-failure/article70181889.ece

Can India finally ensure stigma-free and safe abortion access?

The Abortion Rights Alliance will advocate for legal and policy reforms that expand access to safe, dignified abortion care without fear or delay

October 10, 2025

The Abortion Rights Alliance for Inclusion, Safety and Empowerment (ARISE), a national alliance of public health professionals, safe abortion providers, legal advocates, feminist and human rights organisations, was launched to demand urgent, coordinated action to ensure universal, stigma-free access to safe abortion services across India.

Despite the 2021 amendment to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, which has expanded conditional access to safe abortion services for a wider category of abortion seekers, access remains deeply uneven. In a landmark judgement in 2022, the Supreme Court affirmed the right of a woman to terminate a pregnancy up to 24 weeks of gestation, within the context of the amended MTP Act, despite her marital status.

Continued: https://www.healthcareradius.in/awareness-and-promotion/abortion-pregnancy

10.10.2025

Abortion Rights Alliance for Inclusion Safety and Empowerment

abortion stigma

ARISE

Asia Safe Abortion Partnership

Dr Kalpana Apte

Dr Suchitra Dalvie

Family Planning Association of India

IPAS Development Foundation

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act

Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act

Vinoj Manning

Delhi High Court Calls for Law to Balance Maternal Autonomy and Rights of Viable Foetus in Abortion Cases

By Hardik Khandelwal
14 September 2025

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has recently raised an important legal question while allowing the termination of the pregnancy of a 15-year-old minor girl. The Court has suggested that lawmakers should think about making a clear law on protecting the rights of a viable foetus that may be born alive during an abortion, while also ensuring that a woman’s autonomy and right to health are protected.

The case came before the Court as a Writ Petition filed by the minor through her mother, seeking permission to terminate a pregnancy of 27 weeks.

Continued: https://lawchakra.in/high-court/law-maternal-autonomy-rights-abortion-case/

14.09.2025

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

India – HC pulls up state for delay on minors’ abortion privacy rules

Malathy Iyer
Sep 12, 2025

The state has missed two deadlines set by the Bombay High Court to present guidelines that would balance the requirements of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012 in a manner that the privacy of minors in a consensual relationship seeking abortion is protected.

The amended MPT Act guarantees women the right to privacy and has a provision to fine doctors who reveal their name or other details. The Pocso Act protects children under 18 years from sexual assault/harassment and child pornography.

Continued: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/hc-pulls-up-state-for-delay-on-minors-abortion-privacy-rules/articleshow/123836789.cms

12.09.2025

Bombay High Court

Dr Nikhil Datar

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

MTP Act

POCSO Act

privacy of minors

Protection Of Children Against Sexual Offences

India – DCA Issues Notices To 149 Medical Shops Violating Abortion Rules

Telangana DC Correspondent
16 July 2025

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Drugs Control Administration (DCA) on Tuesday found discrepancies in 149 medical shops for violations related to the sale of abortion kits. Show cause notices were issued to the shops and departmental action has been initiated.

The inspections across the state are being conducted to curb the illegal sale of abortion kits, including drugs such as Mifepristone and Misoprostol. According to officials, the violations included the sale of abortion kits without valid prescriptions from registered medical practitioners, failure to maintain or produce sales and purchase bills, and dispensing of drugs without the presence of a registered pharmacist.

Continued: https://www.deccanchronicle.com/southern-states/telangana/dca-issues-notices-to-149-medical-shops-violating-abortion-rules-1891913

16.07.2025