MUMBAI: Observing that an unmarried woman has the right to exercise her bodily autonomy, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday allowed a student to medically terminate her unwanted 26-week pregnancy. The court held that forcing her to continue it despite fears of social stigma would cause grave psychological harm.HC allows unmarried student to terminate 26-week pregnancyA division bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande passed the order on Wednesday after considering a report from the medical board at Sir JJ Hospital. The board said the pregnancy could be terminated if the court found that compelling the woman to continue with the unwanted pregnancy would cause grave and irreparable harm to her mental health.The woman approached the court stating that she had conceived during a relationship with her boyfriend but later decided she did not want to continue the pregnancy because of the social stigma and psychological impact it would have on her future.The medical board found no foetal abnormalities but said it could not approve termination because the pregnancy had crossed the statutory 24-week limit. It confirmed the gestational age at 26.2 weeks and noted there was a possibility that the foetus could be born alive if the pregnancy was terminated at the current stage.The bench also questioned the board’s observation that the woman may have to approach another recognised medical centre because JJ Hospital lacked facilities and expertise to perform intrauterine foeticide.“We fail to understand the reason for recording the same in the report,” the court said, highlighting that this was not the first time JJ Hospital had been directed to terminate pregnancies over 24 weeks.“We find the opinion expressed that since the intrauterine foeticide facility is not available at JJ Hospital, the petitioner may be directed to go to some other recognised institute of her choice, does not appeal to us,” it remarked.Finding no medical impediment to the procedure, the court said the petitioner was entitled to exercise her bodily autonomy.“We have a petitioner before us who wants to exercise her bodily autonomy by not continuing the pregnancy as she apprehends social stigma, being an unmarried young girl with a future lying ahead,” the bench concluded while allowing the petition.