Bombay High Court upholds teenager’s right to reproductive freedom

The Bombay High Court on Thursday (September 5, 2024) allowed a 17-year-old sexual abuse survivor to continue her pregnancy, citing awareness of her reproductive freedom and agency.

Justices AS Gadkari and Neela Gokhale supported the change of decision of the teenager, who initially sought an abortion and later decided to carry the pregnancy to term in order to marry the man she accused of sexual abuse. “We are aware of the plaintiff's (teenager) right to reproductive freedom, her autonomy over her body and her right to choose. However, since she has also expressed her willingness and desire to continue the pregnancy, she is fully entitled to do so.”

The court respected her decision to continue the pregnancy and also offered the teenager the opportunity to medically terminate the pregnancy at 26 weeks if she changed her mind again.

The matter came to light when the teenager was feeling unwell and had a fever and her mother took her to the hospital for a check-up, where she was discovered to be pregnant. After interrogation, the girl alleged that a 22-year-old man had sexually abused her and a case was filed against him. The teenager had filed a petition in the Supreme Court to terminate her pregnancy but later changed her mind and told the court that it was a consensual relationship and she was not sexually abused by the man. She also expressed her intention to marry the man and raise the child with him.

Her medical report prepared by the government JJ ​​Hospital did not find any abnormality in the fetus. However, since she was a minor, the medical report raised doubts about her mental readiness to give birth to a child.