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India's Supreme Court has refused to allow an abortion for a 10 yo girl, allegedly raped by her uncle, on the grounds that she is too far into her pregnancy. A doctors' panel told the court that, at 32 weeks, termination of the pregnancy would be "too risky". Her pregnancy was discovered 2 weeks ago, when she complained of stomach ache and her parents took her to hospital. A lower court had earlier turned down her plea on similar grounds. On Monday, the Supreme Court had ordered doctors to evaluate whether the girl could undergo abortion safely. Without disclosing the details of the medical report, the judges on Friday ruled that termination was "not good for the girl".

The court order came after lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava filed a public interest petition, saying doctors who had already examined the girl found her pelvic bones had not fully developed, and that the life of both mother and baby were at "very serious risk". "Medical experts have categorically opined that if the 10 year old is forced to give birth, either through normal delivery or even through caesarean-section, it may be fatal to the life of the rape survivor as well as to her child," the petition said. The girl, who belongs to an extremely poor family, alleges she was raped several times in the past 7 months by her uncle, who has been arrested. Her pregnancy was only recently discovered because she herself was unaware of how baby-making worked.

Indian law doesn't allow terminations after 20 weeks, unless doctors confirm the mother's life is in danger. This tough law was introduced in 1971 to prevent illegal and unsafe abortions, and curb female infanticide. The restrictions remain an important weapon in India's fight against a skewed gender ratio, caused by a deep-seated cultural preference for sons, with millions of female foetuses having been aborted over the years by pregnant women after undergoing foetal gender testing. So what do you think- should they allow her to have an abortion or not?