I am glad that the Supreme Court has taken the matter seriously. This will help a lot of couples in future,” said Haresh Mehta, who along with wife Niketa and gynaecologist Nikhil Datar, had moved the Bombay High Court last year, seeking an amendment to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, permitting abortions beyond the 20th week of pregnancy.

After the High Court turned down their plea in August last year, Datar moved the Supreme Court. Admitting their petition on Friday, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Central Government. “The court has taken a proactive step. The judge asked me to study abortion laws across the world and submit a report to the court in four weeks. It has also issued a notice to the Centre to revert back in four weeks with its say,” said Datar.

The issue came to light after Niketa and Haresh Mehta sought the court’s permission to abort their 24-week-old unborn child diagnosed with a complete heart block. They took the legal recourse to challenge the 38-year-old MTP Act, which prevents abortion after the 20th week unless the pregnancy poses a risk to the mother’s health. The Bombay High Court on August 4 last year rejected their petition, observing that medical experts did not express any “categorical opinion that if the child is born it would suffer from serious handicaps.” Later Niketa had a miscarriage.

However, their plea had led to an ethical debate in the medical and legal circles. Their legal battle, however, made some headway after the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare considered bringing about an amendment to the law. Foetal abnormalities can be detected in the first trimester of pregnancy by simple ultrasounds, but congenital heart defects, Downs Syndrome and other chromosomal anomalies can at best be confirmed only by the 20th to 24th week.

The lives of Niketa and Haresh had changed completely since then. “Now whenever Niketa travels in train, ladies do come up to her and pat her saying it is the right move considering the difficulty to raise a child with such abnormalities,” said Haresh, a broker. “One couple from Kandivali wanted to know how she went about the legal battle.”

Though they are not expecting a second child anytime soon, Haresh says they have not dropped the ball and will continue to help others with similar problems in whatever way they can. “We are both committed to help anyone to change the law for the good. There should be annual meetings of medical experts to review the cut-offs for various problems. Also a mechanism to update the law every five years,” he said.