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SYDNEY, August 9, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Sydney abortionist has been charged with manslaughter after she induced a woman to give birth to her late-term infant. The mother was turned away from several abortuaries who declined to commit the illegal abortion on her unborn child who was between 21 and 24 weeks gestation. In the evening after the induction, she gave birth to a live baby boy which died the next morning.

The Sydney Morning Herald report states that the abortionist, Suman Sood, is the first to be charged for the manslaughter of an unborn child, and the first doctor to be charged with committing an illegal abortion since 1971. Sood, owner of the Australian Women’s Health abortuary, faces one count of manslaughter, and one count of administering a drug with intent to procure a miscarriage.

The woman testified in a court hearing that in May 2002 she realized she was between 21 and 24 weeks pregnant. After being turned away from several other abortuaries, she then contacted Sood who simply asked her if she was sure she wanted to proceed with the abortion. Sood then administered an abortion drug, one vaginally and the other orally, to induce a miscarriage, then told the 20-year-old woman to return the following day. After developing abdominal pain later that evening, she contacted Sood, who advised her to take a Panadol or Nurofen tablet.

At 3:30 am that night, the woman gave birth to the boy while on the toilet. “I felt like I had to push and two things came out … I was too scared to stand up,” she testified. Paramedics delivered the woman and her baby to hospital, where doctors realized the boy, 520 grams, was still alive. He died at 8 am the next morning.

The woman charged that Sood did not explain what the procedure was for inducing her late-term baby. Crown prosecutor, Paul Leask, charged that Sood failed to elicit whether a continuation of the pregnancy would pose a health risk to the woman – a prerequisite for late-term abortions. Leask queried the woman, “Did anyone tell you that there was a risk that you might give birth to a baby that was alive?” She replied, “No.”“Would you have gone ahead? he asked. “No, because I went through everything anyway. I went through the contractions and I gave birth.”

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