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Wish My Child Dies After It Is Born, Says Woman After SC Denied Her Permission To Abort 27-Week-Old Foetus

Her foetus has an underdeveloped brain and a distorted spine.
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Even as the Supreme Court on Monday disallowed her to abort her 27-week-old foetus that has "severe abnormalities", a Mumbai woman -- who had sought to abort her foetus which has a severely damaged brain and a distorted spine -- has said that she wishes her child dies when it is born.

While the Supreme Court held that it would not be appropriate for her to abort her foetus, based on doctors' opinion that the foetus may be born alive, the concern of the mother is the painful life that the child will lead.

"I can't see my child bear this pain. I am not sure if I ever want a second pregnancy now," she told The Indian Express.

PTI had reported the Supreme Court as saying, "As regard to the foetus, the report states that, if the pregnancy is terminated in the 27th week, there is a possibility that the baby may be born alive... We don't consider it appropriate to direct the petitioner (woman) to terminate the foetus."

The report suggests that the woman's brother too has a similar brain defect, which has disheartened her family even more.

The father of the woman, according to the The Indian Express report, questioned the need to bring such a child into this world when there were ways of detecting whether the child will live a healthy life.

The biggest problem in this case is that the decision makers won't be the care givers. The woman's father even asked if the government would take responsibility.

The Medical Termination Of Pregnancy Act, 1971 states that if a pregnancy has not exceeded 20 weeks, on the opinion of two medical practitioners, the pregnancy can be terminated if it causes mental or physical harm to the baby or the mother. But after 20 weeks one has to take legal recourse.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.