The Supreme Court of India on Thursday held that all women, irrespective of their marital status, have the right to safe and legal abortion. The Apex Court held that the marital status of women cannot be ground to deprive them right to abort unwanted pregnancies.

Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, both single and unmarried women have the right to abort the foetus till 24 weeks of pregnancy.

A bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice AS Bopanna made the ground-breaking judgement. Justice Chandrachud said if Rule 3bc was to be interpreted that it applies to married women it would mean that unmarried does not involve in sex.

The bench also stressed recognising marital rape though purely within the ambit of abortion. The court said under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, the definition of rape must include marital rape.

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He further said the artificial distinction between married and unmarried women cannot be sustained.

Highlighting differences in circumstances, he said a woman in a situation of emergency or disaster may decide to have the child but it may also impact the choice of a woman who may think pregnancy is not viable to keep.

While talking about reproductive autonomy being closely linked to bodily autonomy, the Apex Court ruled that the right to choose contraception, the number of children and whether or not to abort have to be taken without the influence of social factors.

The ground-breaking judgement by the Supreme Court of India comes after the court allowed a pregnant unmarried woman to abort her 24-week foetus in July this year. The court had sought a report from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on safe abortion of the girl’s circumstance and directed the hospital to form a team of two experts to report on whether abortion is possible without harming the girl.

The girl moved to Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court refused to grant her permission to terminate the pregnancy that was 23 weeks.

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