Abortion case: Niketa suffers miscarriage

CNN-IBN
Published on Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 09:39, Updated at Thu, Aug 14, 2008 in Nation section

New Delhi: Eight days after the Bombay High Court gave its ruling [Read Story] on an appeal that spurred a debate on medical ethics in India, Niketa Mehta – the woman who sought to abort her 25-week foetus – suffered a miscarriage on Tuesday.
Niketa, who was in her 27th week of pregnancy, complained of severe pain on Tuesday night and was rushed to the hospital where she is believed to have lost the baby.
Niketa's husband Haresh blamed the intense media scrutiny for her worsening health. The seven-month old foetus was buried at a municipal corporation-run centre in Mumbai.
The Bombay High Court had earlier rejected Niketa Mehta's plea to abort her foetus after it was diagnosed with congenital heart problem.

Niketa's problem arose because she trusted what appears in hindsight to have been unverified medical opinion. She should have had faith that her baby would be alright and she would be there to help it through whatever its problem would be. The baby should have been given the opportunity to breathe the fresh air of this world. But she unfortunately jumped the gun.

Posted by Tushar1181 at 10:10 AM, Aug 15, 2008
PERHAPS A MESSAGE FOR THE CHRISTIANS THAT ABORTING THE CHILD WAS GOD'S WISH.Returning to the whole debate over Nikita's plea for abortion to be allowed after 24 weeks, one that our law does not allow. I was pretty amused at seeing the different viewpoints that TV channels brought forward. On CNN-IBN there was, as always the "religious" Christian view: abortion is a sin. We humans have no right to kill a creation of the almighty, and once a sperm and ovum meet, life has been created, and there is no justification for its termination. Then there was the view of those fighting for equal treatment of the handicapped: who claimed that aborting the foetus would mean treating all who are mentally or physically challenged as lesser creatures who don't deserve to be treated equally.There were also views supporting the lady but which I think were on a partly wrong path.Starting with my views on life: we are humans, capable of thinking and gifted with an ego, the "I”, which differentiates us from other animals. Humans don't merely exist, they live. And every person has the right to "live" happily. As creatures of God we aren't supposed to have anything in our hands, all our destinies are fixed by him and all we do our whole lives is merely follow the commands coming down to us from Him. In essence we should just accept whatever conditions we are placed in and make no efforts to change anything as that is not what God sent us "robots" down to earth for. I'd recommend all the "Christians" with this sick view rather jump down from the tallest building they can find (which of course they can't do as our lives and death is not in our hands) and leave the rest of us humans "live".The defenders of rights for the handicapped: it's absolutely justified that everyone be treated equally and not discriminated for any handicaps. But fighting for the installation of ramps for wheelchairs is totally different from allowing your legs to be cut off with a hand saw.I have no comments on those who thought that every woman has the right to decide whether she wants to give birth to a child; after all it is the parents who take all the responsibility of taking their care.Why did anyone not leave all this aside all think from the child-to-be born's perspective. A person who is born with a congenital disorder that had been detected and who could have been stopped from suffering his whole life is never going to forgive the law, the "Christians", or the defenders of the handicapped. Why doesn't anyone think of the trauma for example that a child born with defective legs would face every day of his life, every time he sees another child running, playing, even walking without having to move a chair around. If that child ever finds out that his parents knew he would be put in such a position and still gave birth to him he would hate them leave aside forgiving them. Does anyone know why capital punishment should be banned, because it is the least painful form of punishment: a minute hanging with a rope around your neck, a few poison injections, five minutes in a gas chamber, none of these is as painful as spending years if not your whole life alone in solitary confinement. Real punishment is being made to die every day, kept alive only to be killed again the next day. That is what the anti-abortion lobby, who will not allow a child detected with an incurable illness be relieved from a life of torture, is doing. Miracles happen, science is progressing constantly, illness that can't be cured can be controlled to live with.

But none of this can justify not allowing a couple who see a child being born only to suffer his whole life from being terminated before his ordeal starts. This is not murder; this is releasing a person from life-long suffering.I do not present these arguments with the appeal to allow indiscriminate killing of children but if the reasons are compelling enough and involve a life stopped from suffering for none of its fault it should be looked from a view of compassion and love.

Posted by ejvyas at 06:04 PM, Aug 14, 2008
I believe we should stop talking about this case. There are important topics like Olympics and people die everyday around me. This is normal and its a way of life!!!

Posted by crusader.crusad at 11:57 AM, Aug 14, 2008
One cannot believe this incident straight away and seeing the past history, I dont take it at its face value. There could be another angle to it though my sympathy is still with the couple.

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