Abortion is the sole prerogative of the woman, the Supreme Court has ruled. The order was passed by the court while rejecting a man's petition seeking damages from his estranged wife for undergoing abortion without his consent. The court ruled that an adult woman had an unimpeachable right to give birth or terminate pregnancy. The man came in appeal to the SC after his plea before the Punjab and Haryana High Court was dismissed. The couple got married in 1994 and had a son in 1995. Due to discord, the wife and son had been staying with her parents in Chandigarh since 1999. During pendency of the wife's petition seeking maintenance, the Lok Adalat in Chandigarh had mediated, and persuaded the couple to live together in the husband's house in Panipat. In November 2002, they started living together and in January 2003 discovered that she was pregnant.