Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has questioned whether a woman with intellectual disability has no right to become a mother.
A division bench of Justices R V Ghuge and Rajesh Patil on Wednesday was hearing a petition filed by a 27-year-old woman’s father, seeking permission for medical termination of her 21-week pregnancy on the ground that she was of a mentally unsound mind and unmarried. The man in his plea submitted that his daughter wanted to continue the pregnancy.
The bench had last week directed that the woman be examined by a medical board at the state-run JJ Hospital in Mumbai. As per the report submitted by the medical board on Wednesday, the woman is not mentally unsound or ill, but was diagnosed with borderline intellectual disability with an IQ of 75 per cent.
The bench noted that the woman’s parents had not made her go through any psychological counselling or treatment, but only kept her on medication since 2011. The medical board’s report said there were no abnormalities or anomalies in the foetus and the woman was medically fit for continuation of the pregnancy.
The report, however, also said that termination of the pregnancy could be done. Additional government pleader Prachi Tatke submitted to the court that consent of the pregnant woman is of paramount importance in such matters. The bench took note of the fact that the medical board report has clearly stated the woman is not mentally disabled or of an unsound mind. “The observation (in the report) is that she has below average intelligence. Nobody can be super intelligent. We are all human beings and everybody has different levels of intelligence,” the court said.
“Just because she has below average intelligence, does she have no right to be a mother? If we say that persons with below average intelligence do not have the right to be parents, it would be against the law,” the HC said. As per provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, a pregnancy beyond the 20-week gestation period is allowed in cases where the woman is mentally ill, it said.
