New Delhi, April 25 -- Directing a woman to continue with her unwanted pregnancy will be a direct affront to her right to live with dignity and reproductive autonomy, while rendering her "subordinate" to the child yet to be born, the Supreme Court held on Friday, as it permitted a 15-year-old Delhi girl to terminate her over 28-week pregnancy. A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan underscored that constitutional courts must prioritise the wishes and welfare of the pregnant woman over procedural and statutory limitations under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act when faced with cases of unwanted pregnancies likely to cause severe mental and physical trauma. Allowing the minor, who has been admitted at AIIMS Delhi since April 10, to undergo medical termination, the court made it clear that "no court ought to compel any woman and more so a minor child to carry a pregnancy to full term against her express will." The ruling conveyed a strong articulation of reproductive choice as a core constitutional guarantee. The bench held that the right to make decisions concerning one's body, particularly in matters of reproduction, is an intrinsic facet of personal liberty and privacy under Article 21. "If the pregnant woman carrying an unwanted pregnancy is compelled to continue such a pregnancy, then the constitutional rights of the pregnant woman would be breached," noted the court. The bench stressed that the welfare and best interests of the mother must take precedence, cautioning against approaches that render her "subordinate to the child yet to be born." In cases of unwanted pregnancy, the court said, directing continuation would negate her dignity, autonomy, and long-term well-being. The MTP Act, first enacted in 1971 and then amended in 2021, allows all women to undergo abortion legally for up to 20 weeks, and gives a further extension to women on account of mental anguish, rape, assault and health complications, among others. The ruling is expected to have wider implications for how courts approach late-term abortion cases, particularly involving minors, reinforcing that constitutional protections of dignity, autonomy, and decisional privacy cannot be curtailed by rigid statutory thresholds where the pregnancy is unwanted. The bench said that courts must weigh the facts from the perspective of the woman seeking termination. "Can the constitutional court say that since the statutory remedy is not available, no constitutional remedy would also be available? That cannot be the approach," held the court....