Police in Wunrok Payam in Twic County, Warrap State, are holding a woman accused of terminating pregnancy at six months.
They say the unnamed 35-year-old mother was expecting twins when she started experiencing pain at the weekend.
On Saturday, she left her house at Ajong village for a health facility in Gomgoi – a one hour and 15-minute walk.
On her way to the hospital, the water broke, according to the police.
“While on her way, she got into serious labor pain and miscarried the twins,” said Lt. Colonel Atem Deng, police inspector in Wunrok Payam.
Since she was all by herself, the woman managed to deliver the dead fetuses, and later walked back home, where the husband, Yai Chol, accused her of terminating the pregnancy.
Though the suspect is under police custody, Atem said she is currently receiving treatment at the MSF hospital in Mayen Abun.
It’s not clear why the 40-year-old man thinks his wife aborted the pregnancy at six months, but the police officer said they had had a quarrel.
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.