Supreme Court of India

X v. The Principal Secretary Health and Family Welfare Department & Anr.

Neutral citation

Reported as [2022] 12 S.C.R. 246

Bench Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, Surya Kant and A S Bopanna JJ.

Decided 21 July 2022

INSC stands for INDIAN SUPREME COURT. A neutral citation scheme assigned by the Court itself, so a judgment can be cited without depending on a commercial law reporter. INSC is the neutral citation scheme assigned by the Supreme Court, so a judgment can be cited without depending on a commercial law reporter.

4 Supreme Court benches have cited this judgment.

What the Court ordered

We are of the view that allowing the petitioner to suffer an unwanted pregnancy would be contrary to the intent of the law enacted by Parliament.

Judgment, page 10

From the headnote

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971 – s. 3(2)(b), Rule 3B – Medical Termination of Pregnancy Rules 2003 – Termi nation of pregnancy of an unmarried woman – Petitioner was in a consensual relationship and in month of June 2022 she learnt that she was pregnant (22 weeks) – Petitioner stated that in a bsence of source of livelihood, she would be unable to nurtur e a child – Petitioner deserted by her partner – She decided to ter minate the pregnancy – Writ petition before the High Court – igh Court declined to grant relief – On appeal, held: Letting the petitioner suffer from an unwanted

Authorities it was built on

2017 Justice K S Puttaswamy (retd.), and Anr. v. Union of India and Ors. cited by 51
2009 Suchita Srivastava & Anr. v. Chandigarh Administration cited by 17
2010 S. Khushboo v. Kanniammal and Anr. cited by 14

Where later benches applied it

2025 Urmila Dixit v. Sunil Sharan Dixit and Ors. relied on
2024 A (mother of X) v. State of Maharashtra & Anr. relied on
2025 K. Umadevi v. Government of Tamil Nadu & Ors. referred to
2024 Society for Enlightenment and Voluntary Action & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors. referred to
2023 Supriyo @ Supriya Chakraborty & Anr v. Union of India distinguished

Of those, 2 relied on · 1 distinguished · 2 referred to

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