An father in India is asking the high court to force his daughter to abort her preborn child because he says she is unmarried and “mentally ill.”
According to NDTV, the Bombay High Court heard testimony in the case, in which the 27-year-old woman’s father wants her to abort her 21-week preborn child, despite the fact that she herself wishes to continue the pregnancy. The woman’s father says he is too old and financially unable to support his daughter and her baby. In India, abortions are allowed after 20 weeks in cases where the mother is mentally ill.
In response to the father’s request, the court ordered an examination by the medical board, which then diagnosed the woman with “borderline intellectual disability with an IQ of 75 percent.” The medical board said she did not, however, have any mental illness, and there was no medical reason why her pregnancy should not continue.
“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 in response to the medical findings.
READ: Pregnant teenager in India strangled to death after she refused abortion
“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 court added. “Borderline case cannot be said to be a mental disorder. She has not been declared as mentally ill. It is only a borderline case of intellectual functioning.”
Because the woman had also expressed a desire to marry the father of her child, the court suggested her parents help encourage that to happen.
“Can parents take initiative and talk to this man? What you have said is that she wants to marry the man. It is not an offence. She is 27 years old. She should feel comfortable, not terrorized,” justices said.
Despite the court’s apparent reluctance to force the woman to abort, it is scheduled to take up the issue again on January 13.
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