Kochi, Jul 18 Coming to the aid of a 14-year-old rape victim, the Kerala High Court has allowed the medical termination of her 28 week pregnancy -- an outcome of the sexual assault.
Justice Harisankar V Menon noted that while the medical board had opined that the foetal morbidities would be less if the gestational age is near 34 weeks, in the case of a rape victim, the anguish caused by the pregnancy requires to be taken into account.
The medical board had said that as the foetal gestational age was around 28 weeks, the expected birth weight would be about 1 kg and the expected survival chance was 80 per cent.
Besides that, the baby, after delivery, will suffer from various complications of prematurity like retinopathy, necrotising colitis, intraventricular haemorrhage, respiratory distress etc, the board had said.
"These morbidities are less if gestational age is near 34 weeks. There is also a chance of complications due to consanguinity," it had said.
The court, however, said that since the victim was of 14 years of age and does not intend to continue with the pregnancy, the plea to terminate it requires to be allowed.
It directed the state government to make arrangements to forthwith carry out the termination of the pregnancy once the victim and her father give a written undertaking indicating their willingness to undergo the procedure.
If the baby survives the procedure, the state shall provide the standard neonatal care and if the victim does not want the child, she shall surrender it to a childcare institution or specialised adoption agency in accordance with the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, the court said.
It further said that if the baby does not survive, the government shall ensure that tissues and blood samples of the foetus are preserved for necessary medical tests, including DNA fingerprinting and mapping, since an FIR has been registered in connection with the sexual assault.
The directions came on the plea moved by the victim's father.
