The Supreme Court on Monday set up a medical board to examine a woman who has sought to terminate her 24-week pregnancy because the foetus was without a skull. The board, to be set up at BJ Medical College in Pune, will look into whether an abortion would be advisable in this case, PTI reported.

The bench, comprising justices SA Bobde and L Nageswara Rao, have scheduled the next hearing in the case for August 31.

The 20-year-old woman moved the court saying the foetus had not developed a skull, and that if the child was born alive, it may not survive.

On August 10, the apex court had allowed a woman in Mumbai, who was 26 weeks pregnant, to have an abortion as her foetus suffered a life-threatening affliction called anencephaly – a condition where the baby is born without parts of the skull.

Indian law allows abortion of foetuses up to 20 weeks old, but courts can make exceptions in case abnormalities are detected.