Bobette,
Abortion is legal in India only if fetus is less than 20 weeks old. Here the fetus is older, hence all the legalities and debate...
I feel sad for parents of the unborn, who have taken a very difficult decision to terminate the pregnancy for medical reasons. But can’t implement it...

The other side of the issue is that no one is considering what will happen when the child grows up. Imagine how devastating it would be for the kid to know that his/her parents did not want it....for whatever reason. the media will never let the child forget this incident.

Quite true, Radhika, it’ll haunt the child all life...

Yup, even i was thinking on the same lines. Also wonderign about the financial burden on the family to raise such a child.
For the Mehtas, its like....you cannot gulp it down nor can you spit it out!

Yup, even i was thinking on the same lines. Also wonderign about the financial burden on the family to raise such a child.
For the Mehtas, its like....you cannot gulp it down nor can you spit it out!

I agree it is a very very private matter between two parents and such issues should not be advertised. But I fully endorse the courts decision. Abortion should be permitted only if the mother’s life is at risk. Medical science in our country is advanced enough to take care of the abnormality in the child’s heart. But thanks to the publicity enjoyed by the parents all these days, they would find it difficult to obtain medical insurance for the child when born.
And about our media the less said the better. Every news channel competes with one another to flog such news at the same time in varying decibels. The parents need not worry about the media. Remember Aarushi murder case ? Once the victim’s accused father was out of jail the entire media simultaneously pressed the DELETE button because the news would now no longer attract advertisement revenue.

You think so, but pulic memory is very short. Media has already forgotten the case of Arushi Talwar...till date no one knows who the killer is!! Life moves on...and if the child does get to know, the parents will have to sit down and explain everything, provided ofcourse the child lives that long.

I feel very sad about the parents. I think Supreme court should bear the expenses that will be required to raise such child. I can understand what the Mehta couple are feeling right now. It is very painful seeing your child fighting for life.

Totally agree with you guys! Abortion of a child should be decided by the parents. Because after giving birth no law will come to help the child or the parents. Financial problem is a big question here, but more than that think of the mental state of the parents. Is it possible for them to live happily with a disabled, mentally ill child in front of their eyes? They can neither love, nor hate.... I can’t think more than this!!!

The Honourable High Court of Bombay ruled that as per the law, abortion is permissible only upto 20 weeks of pregnency. They did not grant permission because it is not in the law. High Court does not make laws, legislatures make it. Thats what they told the parents. The application of the mother was at a wrong forum and hence dismissed.

The parents are well to do, know the disease in advance and can afford treatment. They are not the unlucky ones whose child is born handicap and they learn later on and suffer in poverty.

I think abortion is a personal issue and it’s extremely shameful that other people have a say on this apart from the parents. I think an individual has every right to take decisions with regard to their life and no one else should be given the right to have a say on it. It’s not the parents fault that they were informed late about the kid’s abnormality, they have every right to abort the kid on the grounds that the child won’t be healthy! When will things start changing in India?