Kerala HC allows couple to hand over abnormal baby to CWC after birth

The Kerala High Court permitted a couple expecting a baby with a non-lethal form of skeletal dysplasia to hand over the child to the Child Welfare Committee after birth. The court relied on a medical board's recommendation against terminating the pregnancy

Kochi: The Kerala High Court has permitted a couple expecting a baby with skeletal dysplasia, a rare genetic condition affecting bone and cartilage development, to hand over the child to the CWC after birth.

Justice Harisankar V Menon observed that since the couple did not intend to retain the child after birth, there was no need to medically terminate the pregnancy, and the baby could instead be handed over to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).

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The couple had moved the High Court seeking medical termination of the over 33-week-long pregnancy, but a medical board constituted by the court advised against it.

The board said that the foetus suffers from a non-lethal form of skeletal dysplasia and there was no need for termination of the pregnancy.

It also told the court that if the couple did not want the baby, it should be handed over to the CWC.

The board also said that in the absence of genetic testing, developmental delay also cannot be predicted at this stage.

In view of the medical board’s recommendation, the couple decided not to terminate the pregnancy, but had sought permission to hand over the baby to the CWC.

Skeletal dysplasia, according to medical journals, is a large group of more than 400 to 750 rare genetic conditions that disrupt how bones and cartilage form, grow, or develop.

The conditions include ‘achondroplasia’ — the most common non-lethal form and type of dwarfism, which results in short limbs and a prominent forehead, brittle bone disease and ‘hypochondroplasia,’ which is a milder version of short-limbed growth difference that may not be noticed until childhood or puberty.

There are also lethal forms of skeletal dysplasia which result in underdeveloped lungs or stillbirth.