New Delhi, Sept. 19 -- The Delhi High Court has allowed a 30-year-old unmarried woman to terminate her pregnancy beyond 22 weeks, holding that forcing her to continue with it would only compound her trauma and subject her to lifelong stigma. A bench of justice Ravinder Dudeja, in his verdict delivered on Wednesday, said the continuation of pregnancy, which resulted from a relationship entered into under the false pretext of marriage, would prevent her from healing from the scars of violation. "The court is of the considered opinion that suffering of the victim cannot be compounded if she is forced to continue the pregnancy. Apart from above, the victim is bound to face social stigma which may not permit the scars left by the defilement of her body to heal," the court said in the order. In this case, the woman had alleged that she entered a live-in relationship with the accused on the promise of marriage. She first became pregnant in November/December last year, but was forced to terminate the pregnancy. She conceived again in June 2025, and when she refused to undergo another termination, the accused allegedly assaulted her on May 15 and abandoned her. She then filed an FIR under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including charges of rape, voluntarily causing hurt, and criminal intimidation. In her petition, she argued that the pregnancy was the outcome of sexual abuse and continuing it would cause grave harm to her physical and mental health while subjecting her to further stigma. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), in its medical report, found her fit to undergo termination....