The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a plea challenging the constitutional validity of abortion laws in India. A bench headed by Justice Dipak Mishra has scheduled the hearing for tomorrow.

The petition was filed by a woman who is in her 24th week of pregnancy. According to medical reports, the foetus has abnormalities and may cause mental distress to the mother.

ABORTION NOW ALLOWED AFTER 20TH WEEK



Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves argued that existing laws do not permit an abortion after twenty weeks of pregnancy.

The petition seeks that the relevant Section 3(2) of Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 must be declared unconstitutional or scrapped down.

VIOLATION OF RIGHTS



The mentioned 20 weeks in the law has been termed as unreasonable, arbitrary, harsh, discriminatory and violative of right to life and equality. In case of medical complications, the current laws deny women's rights to abort their child.

Statistics show that out of 26 billion births in India every year, 2.3 per cent suffer from severe medical abnormalities.