Dataset on medical termination of pregnancy beyond 24 weeks

The Supreme Court’s Judgement on 6 February 2026 in A (Mother of X) v State of Maharashtra signifies a profound shift from a clinical, gestational age-based approach to one rooted in constitutional values of maternal dignity and autonomy. In this case, the Bench comprising Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan, permitted a 30-week termination of pregnancy for a woman who was a minor at the time of conception, effectively setting a new standard for cases involving trauma and vulnerability.

In 2021, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 (MTPA) was amended to permit termination beyond 20-weeks and up to 24-weeks for certain categories of women as prescribed by the Rules.

This dataset documents doctrinal reasoning and factual matrix of cases before the Supreme Court from 2021 to 2026. It reveals a judiciary caught between two impulses; one, based on the principle of parens patriae, which supports the view that the state’s interest in protecting potential life could override the mother’s choice; two, an approach that favours protection of the mother’s reproductive autonomy. Largely dependent on specific facts and circumstances, the results are uneven across benches.

In the Supreme Court

The top court’s judicial journey began in earnest with the 2022 ruling in X v Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department. This case dismantled the discriminatory distinction between married and unmarried women under the MTPA. The Court held that reproductive autonomy is an essential part of the right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution, and that the mental anguish caused by an unwanted pregnancy constitutes a grave injury to health. 

In 2023, however, in X v Union of India, another three-judge bench  refused permission for termination on the ground of foetal viability.  Asked by the Medical Board for directions to stop the heartbeat of the  foetus, the Bench refused, citing foetal viability, absence of threat to the pregnant person’s life, and her refusal to consent to a “heart-stopping” procedure. It emphasised that the statutory bar on termination beyond 24-weeks can only be relaxed through Article 142 which it was averse to invoking in this particular matter. 

This empirical mapping tells us that while the MTP Act provides the statutory framework, the Constitution remains the ultimate arbiter of a woman’s rights. The recent 6 February ruling effectively synthesises the progress made since 2022, ensuring that the law acts as a shield for those facing the most difficult circumstances rather than a rigid set of clinical prohibitions.

The following table provides an exhaustive list of Supreme Court decisions on medical termination of pregnancy from 2021 to 2026.

At the High Court

The Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling provided the necessary constitutional foundation for High Courts to begin exercising their writ jurisdiction to allow terminations even beyond the 24-week statutory ceiling. 

However, the 2023 decision took things in a different direction, providing an alternate precedent for courts to rely on. Last year, the Centre for Health, Equity, Law and Policy, Indian Law Society, Pune studied a total of 1114 judgements from high courts and the Supreme Court between 2019-2024. It found that “courts selectively pick and choose judicial precedents,” resulting in high inconsistency. Notably, while termination was permitted in 85 per cent of cases, most of them involved women in early stages of pregnancy who should not have been before courts in the first place.