Consent to Abort

                  



                                  The Indian Apex Court has ruled that a physically major and mentally minor girl,who has no concept of sexual intercourse,pregnancy or motherhood,has the right to decide whether or not she wants to give birth to a child conceived of rape.


                   Since under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act,1971(MTP Act)pregnancy cannot be terminated without express consent of the mother,the moot question was whether a mentally retared woman is capable of consenting to the termination of pregnancy or not.

                   The expert Body cocluded that victim suffered from mild to moderate mental retardation,was “incapable of making the distinction between a child born before or after marriage or outside the wedlock”and was “unable to understand the social connotations attached thereto”.

                  A normal women may undergo abortion solely on account of the social stigma but the women in question is simply incapable of applying a decisive criterion that a normal women in her circumstances is very likely to.