Abortion law: Unmarried women can also get abortion, Supreme Court's big decision

The Supreme Court on Thursday said that all married or unmarried women are entitled to a safe and legal abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. The Supreme Court also said that discrimination between married and unmarried women under abortion laws is not constitutionally correct. Discrimination between married and unmarried promotes the stereotype that only married women can have sex.

Justice D.Y Chandrachud, Justice J.J. B. Pardiwala and Justice A. s. A bench of Bopanna, while ruling on the interpretation of the MTP Act, said that whether a woman is married or unmarried, she can get an abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. The Supreme Court said that discrimination between a married or unmarried woman under the Abortion Act is "not natural and not constitutionally justified". The court said that it upholds the conservative view that only married women have sex.

On August 23, the bench had reserved its order on the interpretation of the provisions of the MTP Act, which have separate provisions for abortion of married and unmarried women up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

It should be known that a 23-week pregnant woman had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the decision of the Delhi High Court. The woman told the court that the High Court had refused abortion and only married women were considered as the basis of the right. The woman had reached the Supreme Court in July of this year.