{"id":328065,"date":"2025-03-22T15:38:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T20:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=328065"},"modified":"2025-03-20T15:30:39","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T20:30:39","slug":"indian-supreme-court-13-late-term-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/indian-supreme-court-13-late-term-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian Supreme Court will allow 13-year-old to undergo violent late-term abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A 13-year-old rape survivor in India will be allowed to kill her preborn child past 27 weeks of pregnancy<\/a>, due to a decision handed down by the Rajasthan high court.<\/p>\n

Justice Sudesh Bansal ruled<\/a> that allowing the girl to give birth would be traumatizing, and therefore, the abortion should be permitted. At the time of the court hearing, the girl was 27 weeks and six days gestation, meaning she would be at least 28 weeks pregnant when the abortion is actually committed.<\/p>\n

As pointed out before the court by medical experts, the vast majority of babies born at this gestation are able to survive outside of the womb. The court ruled that if the baby survives, the hospital should provide life-saving measures and place the child in the custody of the state \u2014 so one wonders why, at this late stage in pregnancy, an abortion is even being recommended, especially considering that the girl will, in all likelihood, still have to give birth. She’ll just be giving birth to a dead baby instead of a living one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe petitioner is a minor girl whose parents, too, have given consent for termination of the pregnancy. The parents are agreeable to high risk of surgical intervention,” the family’s lawyer, Sonia Shandilya, said. “We maintain that it would be gravely injurious to her mental health if her pregnancy is not allowed to be terminated.\u201d<\/p>\n