A minor child cannot be forced to bear a pregnancy, the Supreme Court said on Thursday while pulling up the Centre and asking it to amend the law to permit rape survivors to terminate unwanted pregnancies even beyond 20 weeks.

In a ruling with far reaching implications for rape survivors, including children, and the issue of autonomy over their bodies, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi took strong exception to a plea by AIIMS seeking to set aside the apex court order allowing a 15-year-old girl to medically terminate her 30-week pregnancy.