Supreme Court set to hear plea challenging 20-week abortion ceiling

The Supreme Court is set to hear a plea challenging the validity of abortion laws in India on 21 July.

The petition challenges the provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act that rules that a woman's right to abortion extends only to those cases that pose extraordinary medical complications. It was filed by a woman going through her 24th week of pregnancy.

The petition, which claims that the foetus has abnormalities and will cause mental distress to the mother, challenges the constitution validity of section 3(2) of Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971 prescribing a ceiling of 20 weeks.

As the laws currently don't permit an abortion after twenty weeks of pregnancy, the petition argues that the ceiling is unreasonable, arbitrary, harsh, discriminatory and violative of the right to life and equality.

The petitioner has sought that the relevant section must be declared unconstitutional or read down.

--ANI