United States Supreme Court decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson is incorrect; we have gone far ahead: Supreme Court of India

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Wednesday told the Central government that relying on the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization was incorrect to justify the argument that the judiciary cannot encroach upon the legislative domain. .While making submissions for the Centre in the same-sex marriage case, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta relied on the Dobbs case to impress upon the Court that judiciary should refrain from entering into arenas governed by the legislature..In response, CJI Chandrachud stated that the Indian judiciary has come a long way ahead of the Dobbs case, and that it cannot be relied upon."These judgments on judicial power are well-settled but if you are relying on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to support this principle...then we have gone far ahead. In Dobbs, US Supreme court ruled woman has no autonomy over her bodily integrity...these are wrong judgments...We credit ourselves that we have gone far ahead than these especially Dobbs," said CJI Chandrachud..After the CJI's remark, SG Mehta stated that he was the last one to rely on international judgments, and that he was only referring to the point of the law and not the subject of abortion or a woman's right to her bodily autonomy..In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the US Supreme Court held that the Constitution of the United States does not confer the right to abortion.Dobbs had overruled both Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), returning to individual states the power to regulate any aspect of abortion not protected by federal law.The case concerned the constitutionality of a 2018 Mississippi state law that banned most abortion operations after the first 15 weeks of pregnancy..In contrast to the US Supreme Court, a Bench of the Supreme Court of India led by Justice DY Chandrachud (as he then was) ruled that all women, whether married or not, have equal rights to access abortion up to 24 weeks of gestation, in compliance with the provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971.Prior to this ruling, the MTP Act permitted abortions up to 20 weeks (on the advice of one medical practitioner), and up to 24 weeks in certain specific cases. These include cases of minors, pregnancies resulting from rape, women experiencing changes in marital status, women with certain mental/physical disabilities, fetal malformation, or pregnancies in emergency situations. .[Read live coverage of Day 5 of the hearing]