Police in Nyamlel town in Aweil West County have placed under custody a woman after she reportedly terminated a pregnancy and dumped the fetus in a pit latrine.
The suspect, Angiicwei Atak, 22, was 8 months pregnant when she committed the crime punishable under the Penal Code.
Lt. Col Philip Agany, police investigator at the station, says the young woman was found bleeding in the house by the parents.
“This is so bad, and it is a crime. People live to give birth, not to kill babies,” Agany told Akol Yam FM on Friday.
He revealed that the woman made the decision after the unnamed father of the then unborn child refused to take the responsibility.
“I want to tell people, especially girls, that when you are pregnant and the person declines the responsibility, Instead of taking drugs to kill the baby, report it to your parents,” Agany added.
Late-term abortions are much more dangerous for the mother than giving birth, according to health experts. It’s unclear how Ms Atak did it alone.
The South Sudan Penal Code Act 2008 prohibits anything done with the intent to prevent a child being born alive or to cause it to die after birth.
“Whoever before the birth of any child does any act with the intention of preventing that child from being born alive or causing it to die after its birth…commits an offence, and upon conviction, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or with a fine or with both,” reads Article 220.