Abstract

Abortion continues to be a moral and ethical dilemma in medicine. While abortions in general have always faced social stigmas, the abortion of fetuses with Down’s syndrome in particular remains the subject of debate across the globe. In India, under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, abortion is legal under prescribed circumstances only till 20 weeks of gestation. Laws for abortion after 20 week of gestation are ill defined. In a recent ruling of the Supreme Court in India, a woman was denied the right to abortion of her 26 week old fetus. With this ruling, India has joined the rest of the world in the debate surrounding abortion laws and the ethics of abortion.