Abortion of a foetus!!

We all know each government has its own rules for abortion.. In India is reportedly 20 weeks.. In US its 28 weeks etc.. But what if when a foetus suffers from heart disease or the parents get to know that the child will be born abnormal??? Shouldn't the parents be allowed to decide whether they must have the baby or not in such crucial cases??

Now here is an example.. The Mehtas have been declined to abort the child by the Mumbai High Court..

Bombay HC declines abortion plea

The Bombay High Court has denied Niketa and Harsh Mehta the permission to abort their 25-week foetus. The couple had gone to court seeking an abortion.

The judgment came even as an expert panel of doctors, appointed to examine the case said the foetus has "least chance" of having a congenital handicap at birth.

Petitioners Niketa and Haresh Mehta along with their doctor Nikhil Datar had moved Bombay High Court for medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) after physicians had diagnosed the unborn child with a congenital disorder. Niketa had found out in the 24th week of her pregnancy that the foetus had a congenital heart block.

"There are 'least chances' that the child will be born with a handicap or incapacitated," the panel of three doctors appointed by the dean of J J Hospital noted in their report submitted to the court.

Earlier, a committee of doctors appointed by the same hospital stated that there were "fair chances" of the child being born with a congenital handicap. The committee, however, added that "the findings observed do not have substantive significance to resort to termination of pregnancy".

In their petition, the couple had sought to abort the child since it would need a pacemaker right from the time of birth and the quality of its life would be poor.

For the purpose, they sought amendment of a section of the MTP Act under which a foetus can be aborted after 20 weeks only if there was a fatal risk to mother and not the foetus.

The couple, who hail from a middle-class family, said the pacemaker, which costs about Rs one lakh has a limited lifespan of about five years. Changing the pacemaker every five years is not economically viable for the family, they said.

A Division Bench of Justice R M S Khandeparkar and Amjad Sayed hearing the petition observed that they could not alter the provision of the MTP Act. "It is the job of the legislature to help you alter the provision. We cannot legislate the provision," Khandeparkar observed. (With PTI inputs)

https://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080060016

Shouldn't the parents be given some relaxation in such cases???

Yes they should.

Originally posted by: souro

Just a thought, if the couple don't want to get a pacemaker for the baby after it's birth and so the baby dies, what can the court do?? 😕

I have the same question.. What if the family was in poverty line?? I hope some steps are taken for this.. The rule is 37 yrs old and it needs serious thinking...

These politicians are more interested in mudslinging on each other rather than working on these needed issues..

If anyone is interested, there was a debate here more than a year ago on 'partial abortion'. Some good points were raised from both sides. If you want you can check this out.

I am just thinking from the would be mother's point of view.It must not have been an easy decision for her to abort this child.if she and her husband have chosen to go ahead with abortion-its their personal choice.watching their newborn growing up with a disorder all their life is definitely going to be more painful for any parent.

i hve a mix emotion here...

I heard even the health minister has ruled out any change in laws for abortion of foetus saying one case cant change whole law

Very sensitive issue

I read that Justice ruled the case just because of one word MAY... in Doctor reports doctors hv written that Child May have chance to live normally...

I think aborting fetus is personal choice.. everyday lots n lots of abortions take place all over the world..

I faced very difficult situation in my life.. one of my Twin baby was diagnosised severe kidney failure and also heart had issue.. Docs advised me to get the baby killed in uterus itself by injecting lethal injection to its heart.. I was 20 weeks long (here in USA fetus abortion is banned after 24 weeks)..

Appointment was set and we got ready to go.. at the last moment I canceled the whole thing saying I won't kill my baby.. wl take care of even if it born disabled.. mother in me did not allowed me to take this step... fortunately my Husband supported me...

By 26 weeks my baby died itself inside the my womb.. it was the hardest thing I gone thru.. but we were glad that we did not terminated that baby.. it gone itself..

But if that baby diagnosed as mentally retarded my decision would hv been different.. I don't know.. because I have seen my aunt's life became Hell because of mentally retarded daughter...

I think everyone should let Mother to take the decision... it is her baby n her body...

Originally posted by: souro

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(de search sysytem at present relli sux big tym, took me a lot of tym to cum up wid dis 1 )