22 Dec 2010

Samoa court jails former nurse for procuring abortion

8:51 am on 22 December 2010

A former nurse in Samoa, Akalita Apelu, has been jailed for admitting to one count of procuring abortion the same criminal offence she was found guilty of in 2004 and jailed for three and a half years.

Abortion is legal in Samoa if pregnancy threatens the life of the mother.

She was sentenced to five and half years in prison for performing another illegal abortion involving a female prisoner who got pregnant in jail.

The female prisoner rushed to the hospital where she gave birth to a two months premature baby boy which was dead after birth.

The prisoner was also charged as a party to the procuring of abortion and was sentenced last year into an additional jail term.