24-week pregnancy abortion case: Woman stable, to be discharged on Sunday

Mira Pal, the 22-year-old Mumbai woman who was allowed to terminate her 24-week pregnancy by the Supreme Court will head home on Sunday. The process of termination that was induced on Thursday ended on Friday. Once labour is induced the process can take anywhere between 24 to 48 hours.

"As per Supreme Court order the patient was admitted and termination of pregnancy was initiated. She is fine and will be under observation. We will send a report to the Supreme Court," said Dr Avinash Supe, dean, KEM Hospital. The abortion too place around 3.30 PM on Friday.

The woman was carrying a foetus that suffered anencephaly with mild polyhydramnios and hypotelorism. Simply put, anencephaly is a congenital defect where a major portion of the brain, skull and scalp goes missing. The report further stated that such a foetus would not survive outside the womb. It also said that continuation of the pregnancy would gravely endanger the physical and mental health of the mother.

The SC Bench, consisting of Justices SA Bobde and L Nageswara Rao, allowed medical termination of the pregnancy (MTP) citing the mother's right to "preserve her life".

The patient will be discharged on Sunday.