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

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USA – Helping a minor travel for an abortion? Some states have made it a crime.

Last year, Idaho became the first state to outlaw ‘abortion trafficking,’ and in May, Tennessee enacted a similar law

By: Anna Claire Vollers
August 26, 2024

Helping a pregnant minor travel to get a legal abortion without parental consent is now a crime in at least two Republican-led states, prompting legal action by abortion-rights advocates and copycat legislation from conservative lawmakers in a handful of other states.

Last year, Idaho became the first state to outlaw “abortion trafficking,” which it defined as “recruiting, harboring or transporting” a pregnant minor to get an abortion or abortion medication without parental permission. In May, Tennessee enacted a similar law. And Republican lawmakers in Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma introduced abortion trafficking bills during their most recent legislative sessions, although those bills failed to advance before the sessions ended.

Continued; https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/08/26/helping-a-minor-travel-for-an-abortion-some-states-have-made-it-a-crime/

India – New abortion rules recognise minors as vulnerable, seek to make services more accessible to them

Jagriti Chandra, NEW DELHI
OCTOBER 30, 2021

The new abortion rules notified by the Government recently recognise minors as a vulnerable category and seek to make services more accessible to them. But social stigma and conflict with POCSO Act, 2012, or the law against child sexual abuse, pose hurdles.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Rules, 2021, define new categories of vulnerable women who are allowed termination up to 24 weeks upon meeting certain conditions and with the permission of two doctors. These include minors, survivors of sexual assault and those with foetal malformation among others. Others may seek abortion up to 20 weeks with the permission of one doctor upon meeting certain criteria…

Continued: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/new-abortion-rules-recognise-minors-as-vulnerable-seek-to-make-services-more-accessible-to-them/article37253176.ece

Abortion-Rights Organizations Are Working Overtime In Texas As SB8 Remains In Place

September 19, 2021

NPR Radio, 5-Minute Listen

Transcript
Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with Rosann Mariapurram, executive director of Jane's Due Process, a grassroots organization in Texas that helps people under 18 access abortion care.

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
Texas' controversial abortion law is still on the books after another judge refused to block it last week. That law prohibits terminations after about six weeks, even in the case of incest and rape, and it allows private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone else who helps a woman break the law and gives them money if they win. What effect is that having on the ground in Texas now? Rosann Mariappuram is the executive director of Jane's Due Process, a grassroots organization in Texas that helps teens access safe abortion care, and she joins us now. Hello.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2021/09/19/1038681772/abortion-rights-organizations-are-working-overtime-in-texas-as-sb8-remains-in-pl

Texas’ Abortion Law Traps Desperate Teenagers

Sept. 13, 2021
By Michelle Goldberg

In Texas, teenagers who need abortions must get their parents’ consent, but for many young people, that’s not an option. Maybe they’re in foster care, or they’re unaccompanied minors in immigration detention, in which case the government has legal authority over them. Maybe their parents are abusive, or adamantly opposed to abortion.

The Supreme Court has ruled that parents don’t have absolute power to make their children continue unwanted pregnancies, so Texas, like many other states, has an allowance for what’s called a judicial bypass. If a pregnant minor can prove to a judge that she’s mature enough to make her own decision, or that notifying a parent is not in her best interest, she can get a waiver allowing her to have an abortion.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/opinion/abortion-texas-teens.html

India – Allahabad HC seeks medical board report for minor rape survivor’s abortion

Aug 29, 2021

PRAYAGRAJ: Hearing the petition of a minor rape survivor seeking permission to terminate her 19-week pregnancy, the Allahabad high court has directed constitution of a medical board for carrying out her medical examination and submitting its recommendations on the feasibility of medical termination of pregnancy (MTP).

The petitioner had sought directions to the state government to permit her to terminate her undesirable pregnancy, stating, “The pregnancy has resulted in such extreme anguish to her that it constituted grave injury to her mental health.”

Continued: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/allahabad/hc-seeks-med-board-report-forminor-rape-survivors-abortion/articleshow/85725620.cms

29.08.2021

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This 17-year-old needs an abortion in Texas. First, she has to make her case in court.

Texas requires minors to get parental consent, but her parents are antiabortion

Caroline Kitchener, The Lily
May. 19, 2021

SAN ANTONIO — D chose black leggings and a zip-up hoodie because it’s the kind of outfit that blends in anywhere.

She could go to the gym to work out, like she’d told her parents when she left the house — or she could go to the gym to sit in the parking lot with her laptop on her knees, petitioning a judge to let her have an abortion.

Continued: https://www.thelily.com/this-17-year-old-needs-an-abortion-in-texas-first-she-has-to-make-her-case-in-court/

19.05.2021

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The Trump Administration Is Giving Up Its Fight To Prevent Undocumented Teens From Getting Abortions

The administration issued a new policy explicitly preventing ORR staff from blocking minors in its care from obtaining abortions or disclosing their pregnancies.

Ema O'Connor and Zoe Tillman
September 29, 2020

After three years of arguing in court to block pregnant, undocumented teenagers in government custody from obtaining abortions, the Trump administration dropped the fight on Tuesday, announcing it had officially changed its policy.

The new policy makes clear that the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the branch of the Department of Health and Human Services that oversees undocumented minors and those seeking asylum in the US, must allow teenagers in its custody to obtain abortions.

Continued: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emaoconnor/trump-undocumented-teens-abortion-orr-lawsuit-immigration

Ireland – Abortion guidelines for girls under 15 cause unease among doctors

Abortion guidelines for girls under 15 cause unease among doctors
Access to services without parental consent to be had in ‘exceptional circumstances’

Dec 23, 2018
Paul Cullen

Girls aged 15 and under will be able to get an abortion without the involvement of their parents or another adult “in exceptional circumstances”, according to the Health Service Executive guides to the termination of pregnancies.

A doctor offering the abortion to the young woman who chooses not to involve an adult is required to complete an assessment, the as-yet-unpublished guides state.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/abortion-guidelines-for-girls-under-15-cause-unease-among-doctors-1.3741095

USA: It Always Comes Down to Abortion

It Always Comes Down to Abortion

Katie McDonough
Jan 5, 2017

In the final months of 2017, the Trump administration tried and failed to block three undocumented teenagers from getting abortions while in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. In each case, the young women sought access to the procedure only to be refused by the agency, which cited a policy issued in March barring “any action that facilitates” abortion for unaccompanied minors, including “scheduling appointments, transportation, or other arrangements,” unless approved by agency director Scott Lloyd.

That approval would likely never come, even in cases of rape, because, according to a letter from Lloyd, to allow minors in ORR custody to terminate their pregnancies would be the equivalent of “being asked to participate in killing a human being in our care.”

Continued at source: https://splinternews.com/it-always-comes-down-to-abortion-1821812298