Jul 3, 2026
Times of India
NEW DELHI: The Madhya Pradesh high court has allowed a woman to end her 13-week pregnancy. The court said her own consent was enough under the law, and that she did not legally need her estranged husband’s consent or even the court’s permission to go ahead with it.
May 13, 2026
The Hindu Bureau
Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Panchayat Lavish Ordia has said that private hospitals must obtain permission from the District Medical Board before performing an abortion in pregnancy over 24 weeks.
He was speaking after inaugurating a training workshop on the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act organised jointly by the district administration, the Zilla Panchayat, the District Health and Family Welfare Department, the National Health Mission, the YIMS Yadgir and the IPAS Bangalore Institute of Technology at the Yadgir Institute of Medical Sciences (YIMS) auditorium in Yadgir on Tuesday.
Expert committees constituted to advise courts on medical termination of pregnancy are advocating for the rights of an unborn child, not recognised in Indian law.
By: Ritika Jain
10 May, 2026
The Supreme Court, on April 30, disagreed with an appeal by a medical board, and permitted a 15-year-old girl in her third trimester to terminate her pregnancy. This was the second such case this year alone where the Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has argued for the rights of the foetus. However, the court was informed in a hearing on May 4 that the minor child gave birth to a baby boy on May 2.
The 15-year-old had become pregnant, the petition said, as a result of a consensual relationship with a 17-year-old boy. The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan overruled the Delhi High Court and permitted termination in an order on April 24, which was then challenged by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) seeking protection for an “unborn child”.
Continued; https://www.newslaundry.com/2026/05/11/medical-boards-are-gatekeeping-abortion-access
Two conflicting decisions authored by former Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud have created a doctrinal puzzle over whether foetal viability or reproductive autonomy should prevail in late-term abortion cases.
Feb 18, 2026
V.Venkatesan
On February 6, 2026, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan permitted medical termination of a 30-week pregnancy, overturning a Bombay High Court order that had relied on a 2023 Supreme Court precedent to deny permission. The High Court had invoked X v. Union of India (2023 INSC 919), a three-judge bench decision authored by then Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, which had refused termination of a 26-week pregnancy of a married woman. Justice Nagarathna relied instead on a different 2024 three-judge bench decision, also authored by then Chief Justice Chandrachud, which had initially permitted termination, before the parents withdrew their consent, thus leading to recall of the earlier order.
Says 14-year-old rape victim’s life at risk & unborn child also has constitutional right to live
Oct 19, 2025
In a judgment refusing permission for 28-week abortion to a 14-year-old rape victim, the High Court noted that in this case, there is a risk to the minor victim's life in abortion and on the other hand, the unborn child also has the right to life.
Therefore, under these circumstances, the court's judicial conscience is not ready to pass an order putting two lives at risk. Hence, permission for abortion cannot be granted.
The amended Act allows abortions up to 24 weeks for certain categories, like rape/incest survivors, minors, or foetal anomalies, with approval from two doctors or a medical board
Dr Nikhil Datar
October 11, 2025
‘Is my baby normal?’ Asha asked tearfully, her hands clenched tightly around her husband’s arm. I replied that we have run the tests twice and confirmed that her baby has hydrocephalus. I was trying to buy time with technical jargon, hoping she and her husband could compose themselves to receive the next piece of news. Even though it pained me to see the shock and disappointment on their faces, I had no option but to proceed with discussing these facts.
Asha’s unborn baby had developed a large head with fluid filling its brain, compressing the developing neural tissue. There was also a cyst on the spinal cord called a meningomyelocele. “Babies with hydrocephalus and meningomyelocele are born alive but will be severely restrained both physically and mentally," I told them. “Sometimes, they are paralysed from the waist down. Treatments and surgeries may help, but often, the outcomes aren’t great."
The DCA informed the citizens that abortion kits are to be used only under the supervision of a registered medical practitioner (RMP) after proper clinical evaluation and ultrasound.
16 September 2025
Hyderabad: Showcause notices were issued to around 234 medical shops regarding discrepancies in the sale of abortion or medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) kits (abortifacient drugs) and licenses of around 165 medical shops were suspended, while seven others were cancelled as part of departmental action carried out by the state Drug Control Administration (DCA).
The DCA officials informed on Tuesday that special raids were conducted to combat the illegal sale of abortion kits between August 22 and September 15. Around 809 inspections were done during this period on several medical shops and unauthorised practitioners, focusing on detecting the unauthorised sale of abortion (medical termination of pregnancy) kits, including tablets such as mifepristone and misoprostol, classified under Schedule H of the Drugs Rules.
57-year-old petitioner challenges provision allowing gynaecologists to clear abortions on presumed anguish from failed contraception; court issues notice to Centre, next hearing on Sept 16
by Manraj Grewal Sharma
August 6, 2025
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Union government on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a 57-year-old Hisar resident challenging the legal provision that allows abortions based on presumed mental health injury without requiring evaluation by a psychiatrist.
Deepak Kumar, the petitioner, has sought a declaration that a key clause under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, particularly Section 3(2) and Explanation 1, is unconstitutional. He argues that the provision violates Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution by allowing gynaecologists to terminate pregnancies on mental health grounds, even though they are not qualified to assess psychological conditions. He has also asked the court to rule that abortions should only be allowed when the life of the woman or the fetus is in immediate danger, not in cases of failed contraception or presumed mental anguish.
Complicated, overlapping and contradictory legislation places decisions in the hands of the medical and judicial establishments
Sohel Sarkar
September 9, 2024
In October 2023, a 27-year-old woman approached the Supreme Court in India with a petition to terminate her pregnancy, which was over 24 weeks. She had discovered it late and was undergoing treatment for postpartum psychosis following the birth of her second child, which left her without the “physical, mental, psychological and financial” wherewithal to continue with a third pregnancy. A two-judge bench initially ruled in her favor, affirming “the right of a woman over her body.”
Yet the law in India only allows for terminations over 24 weeks in cases of fetal abnormalities or to save the life of the mother, and the case was later reopened after a doctor from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, a premier hospital and medical college in Delhi where the abortion was to be conducted, asked for a court directive on whether a “feticide” could be performed since the fetus, in her words, was “normal.”
Continued: https://newlinesmag.com/argument/indias-abortion-laws-offer-pregnant-women-an-illusion-of-choice/
By : AgencyFirst
Monday, Apr 22, 2024
New Delhi (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday allowed medical termination of the pregnancy of a 14-year-old rape survivor while noting that continuing the pregnancy may harm the physical and mental health of the minor.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala, allowing the girl to undergo abortion who is over 29 weeks pregnant, held that the urgency of the situation and the welfare of the minor necessitated the medical termination of pregnancy.
Continued: https://www.babushahi.com/full-news.php?id=183104&headline=SC-allows-abortion-of-minor-rape-survivor
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