In a shocking piece of news, the district court in Chandigarh rejected a 10-year-old rape survivor’s plea to undergo an abortion after it was found out that she had already completed 26 weeks of her pregnancy.
As per the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act the court allows abortion only if the pregnancy is under 20 weeks and as the foetus was already in her 26th week, the court rejected the plea.
But what is outrageous here that the court did not consider the age of the rape victim and that she was a minor and in no case in any position to handle this pregnancy on her own.
Reports say that the 10-year-old girl had been repeatedly raped by her maternal uncle and comes from a very humble background. Her father works as a government employee and mother as a domestic help.
The pregnancy would be risky…
Doctors say that a full-term pregnancy for a girl at the age of 10 would have several medical implications and can be extremely risky. While normal delivery is ruled out, even a Caesarean section at that age is dangerous.
“I have not seen a 10-year-old girl pregnant ever before. When a menstrual cycle is missed, it is not noted by underage girls,” said Rashmi Bagga, department of obstetrics and gynaecology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India.
It must be noted that the girl cannot have a normal delivery and experts say that even a C-section would be extremely difficult.
“In almost 40 years of practice, I have never come across such a case. I had seen a 13-year-old girl pregnant. If legal permission is granted treating it as an exceptional case, it’s better to terminate the pregnancy as there can be complications,” Dr Umesh Jindal, a well-known gynaecologist and a member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine told the Times of India.
While it’s necessary for the Court to follow the law, but sometimes, especially in such cases, rules can be amended to set an example for the future.
This case also brings into the light once again the fact that most cases of child cases or rape happen at home by some or the other family member, who is close to the child and also trustworthy. This is why parents should think twice before leaving their kids with any member of the family except the parents because it’s better to be safe than sorry.
*Republished with permission from theIndusparent
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