New Delhi, April 24 -- The Supreme Court on Friday, April 24, permitted a 15-year-old girl to terminate her 28-week pregnancy and held that making a woman continue with her unwanted pregnancy will be a direct insult to her right to live with dignity and reproductive autonomy.

A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan emphasised that constitutional courts must prioritise the best interests of the pregnant woman over the statutory and procedural limitations under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act when dealing with cases of unwanted pregnancies, likely to result in major mental and physical trauma.

"No court ought to compel any woman, and more so a minor child, to carry a pregnancy to full term against her will,"...