A 10-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by her uncle cannot have an abortion, India’s highest court has ruled.
The country’s Supreme Court refused to allow the girl an abortion, ruling that she is too far into her pregnancy.
A panel of doctors said that a termination would be too much of a risk 32 weeks into the pregnancy, the BBC reported.
The girl, who has not been identified, is six months pregnant and sought medical attention after her maternal uncle allegedly raped her several times, CBS News reported.
The district court in the northern city of Chandigarh based its decision on an opinion by a panel of doctors from the city’s Government Medical College and Hospital, where the girl was examined, according to the hospital’s medical superintendent.
“If you abort then the risk to life is greater,” the superintendent told The Washington Post in a brief phone interview Wednesday
The fact that she was pregnant had only been discovered two weeks ago after the girl complained of stomach ache, prompting her parents to take her to hospital.
Terminations of pregnancies are not allowed after 20 weeks unless medical experts rule that the mother’s life is in danger.
The law was introduced in 1971 to prevent illegal and unsafe abortions, and also in order to try to reduce death rates among mothers.
Large parts of India have a cultural preference for sons, meaning millions of female foetuses have been aborted after tests on their genders have been conducted