KATHMANDU, APRIL 15
The Supreme Court has issued a show cause notice to the government for criminalising abortion.
A five-member constitutional bench of led by Acting Chief Justice Deepak Kumar Karki issued the show cause notice in response to a writ petition filed by Forum for Women, Law and Development.
SC, however, refused to issue interim order.
The petitioner has argued that abortion continued to be criminalised in Nepal as the Right to Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Act refereed to the punishment provision of Section 188 of Muluki Criminal Code and the Act defines miscarriage as abortion.
The petitioner has argued that due to criminalisation of abortion, many women were deprived of getting reproductive health services and many women were unnecessarily victimised for seeking abortion.
The petitioners have demanded that the court repeal the part of Muluki Criminal Code that criminalised abortion.
They also demanded that the court nullify Section 26 of The Right to Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Act that referred to penal code for punishment in abortion cases.
Advocates Sabin Shrestha, Meera Dhungana, Nabin Shrestha, Neha Gurung and Pushpa Paudel pleaded on behalf of the petitioners.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 16, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
