According to the Indian Parliament, a woman can’t undergo an abortion if she has passed 20 weeks of her pregnancy, unless her life is at risk.

Keeping it in mind, Mumbai High Court on Monday rejected 31 year old Niketa Mehta’s plea to abort her 25-week-old fetus, which has been detected with a congenital heart disease. Last month, Niketa Mehta along with her husband Haresh and gynecologist Dr. Nikhil Dattar had knocked the door of the high court to allow the abortion.

Amit Karkhanis, their lawyer explained that the couple can’t afford to pay for the frequent change of pacemaker that the fetus’ condition would require. He further added that Mehta want to undergo an abortion since they feel that if the child takes birth, it would affect its life to a great extent. It was only after 24 weeks that they had found that the fetus has a congenital heart disease. Bombay High Court did not give the permission, for it is up to Parliament and not the court to change the provisions of Indian law.

This case has actually challenged the Country’s 37-year-old Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act that permits abortions after 20 weeks only if there is a risk to the mother.

In India, abortions are legal till 12th week of pregnancy. The abortion between 12th to 20th weeks is only allowed if there is a health risk for either mother or the fetus. Dattar, however feels that the option should be left to the parents.

He said, “My plea was that the decision is best left to the parents who will take care of the child. We sought the opinion of many doctors and we were worried about the quality of life the child would have.”

The couple has not yet commented as to will they go to Supreme Court for trying once again.