Birth of a debate: The abortion dilemma

FAMILY MATTERS: Face the Nation panelists discuss whether parents should be allowed to abort pregnancy.

      

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The Bombay High Court on Monday rejected Niketa and Harish Mehta’s plea to abort their 24-week-old foetus, which the doctors say may have a congenital heart defect. The Court ruled that a predicted disability is no ground for abortion.

The Mehtas argued that they believe they won’t be able to afford to care for the baby or endure the trauma, and, therefore, they should be allowed to terminate the life of their unborn baby.

But is abortion a matter of parental choice? CNN-IBN raised that question on its show Face the Nation. On the panel to discuss the issue were founders, Uday Foundation, Tulika and Rahul Verma; Convener, Disabled Rights Group, Javed Abidi; General Secretary, Society for the Right to Die with Dignity, Dr Surendra Dhelia; and Head of Foetal Medicine, Apollo, Dr Anita Kaul.

Show’s moderator Sagarika Ghose initiated the discussion by asking that if it’s the parents who are the primary care givers to a child and it’s them who’ll be traumatised if the child passes on because of the disability, why should they not be at liberty to decide whether they want to have the baby or not?

Javed Abidi said no one’s contesting the right of the parents. “The question is,” he said, “until when is it okay to terminate a pregnancy. Indian law does not law abortion after 20 weeks of conception. In Mehta’s case, the foetus is already 24 weeks old. So if we take a liberal stand on the issue today then what stops a parent tomorrow to abort a child just a day before the delivery, on the grounds of fear of disability or some other aspect such as the face or the skin of the child?”

Underscoring the fact that it is merely a possibility and not a certainty that the child will has a congenital disease, Abidi said, “I have seen many examples, where the doctors predicted a congenital defect but the child was born normal.” He added, “ Experts say that one in 10 child has a congenital heart issue. Are we trying to say that one tenth of our children should be killed because of that fear?”

Dr Anita Kaul, however, said that the question is not whether abortion should be allowed or not. “A 24-week-old foetus is born with signs of life; before that, it’s a still birth. Therefore, we are saying the parents should have a choice is up to 24 weeks.

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Strongly opposing the doctor’s point of view, Rahul Verma, father of a child with a congenital defect, said, “It’s not a matter of choice. We are not talking about choosing a car or a holiday spot. Citing the example of “miracle-child” Lakshmi, who was born with eight limbs, Rahul said, “We are talking about a life and that too the life of a human baby.”

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