(1) Supreme Court ruling on abortion comes
In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on Thursday said it is unconstitutional to distinguish between married and unmarried women for allowing termination of pregnancy on certain exceptional grounds when the foetus is between 20-24 weeks. The decision follows an interim order in July by which the court had allowed a 25-year-old woman to terminate her pregnancy. The ruling, incidentally delivered on World Safe Abortion Day, emphasises female autonomy in accessing abortion. The bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, J.B. Pardiwala and A.S. Bopanna delivered the verdict on the interpretation of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971 and its Rules of 2003, and whether unmarried or single women can be allowed like their married counterparts the benefit of abortion up to 24 weeks. Here is the key takeaways from the judgement:
