HC allows HIV+ teenager's plea for terminating pregnancy

The Delhi High Court today allowed the plea of a pregnant HIV positive teenager, who was rescued from a brothel, for termination of her pregnancy.
Justice Sunita Gupta allowed the 19-year-old's petition while accepting her submissions that she was from the poor strata of the society and it was a forced pregnancy amounting to rape as she was in the brothel.
The court also accepted the girl's argument that she wanted to abort the fetus on grounds of ill health.
The court directed the Delhi government to take her to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital while asking its Medical Superintendent to constitute a medical board to examine her and terminate her pregnancy within three days.

In addition, the court directed the government to ensure that the girl got proper medicines and diet during the treatment.
Justice Gupta passed the order after the city government responded to the court's notice and said that it had no objection to getting the 19-week-old fetus aborted.

In her petition, the girl said she was rescued from a brothel along with other girls by the police after a raid.
According to the petition, all the girls were sent to the care of Nari Niketan.
She also said that she had informed the authorities that she is pregnant and wanted to terminate it as the child was conceived in forceful and undesired sexual intercourse.

When her repeated requests for abortion were ignored by the state authorities, she had decided to move the court for direction to end the pregnancy, she said.
Her counsel argued that the state has a legal obligation to provide the girl medical care as she is HIV positive and continues to remain in bad health.
The court was told that the Nari Niketan authorities had refused to accede to her request citing the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act which prohibits abortion of a fetus which above 12 weeks.