KOTA KINABALU: An unemployed woman has pleaded guilty to trying to abort her baby in July.
The act, which is an offence under Section 315 of the Penal Code, provides a jail sentence of up to 10 years or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
However, the 22-year-old would only know her fate on Nov 2, after the Magistrates' Court received her social report as the incident happened when she was 21.
According to the facts of the case, the woman had been admitted to the Women and Children’s Hospital in Likas for a severe abdominal pain and was later found to be 25 weeks pregnant.
She soon gave birth to a 800g fetus which died an hour later.
The court was further told that a day before, which was on July 4, the woman had bought three pills to terminate her pregnancy.
The court also heard that the woman, who had a fiance, did not know that she was expecting a child as her menstrual cycle had been inconsistent and she only found out that she was pregnant in June.
She was afraid and ashamed of the matter, which led her to decide to abort the pregnancy.
Duty counsel Lim Ming Zoong informed the court that the accused was 21-years-old at the time of incident and was still considered a youthful offender and applied for a social report to be prepared for her.
The prosecution proposed a RM2,500 bail with one surety.
Magistrate Wan Farrah Farriza Wan Ghazali granted bail on one surety pending the next mention date.
Section 315 of the penal code states that 'an act done with intent to prevent a child being born alive or to cause it to die after birth' is an offence 'unless it is for the purpose of saving the life of the mother.'
