Two men, including a local pharmacist, have been arrested by the police in Rumbek of South Sudan’s Lakes State for their alleged involvement in an abortion-related death, local officials said.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, the police investigator in Rumbek Central County Andrea Mading said the woman, identified only as Achol, died on Wednesday while trying to abort her two-month-old pregnancy.
Mading said the man who impregnated the woman and a local pharmacist who provided the abortion drugs are in police custody as the police investigate the cause of death.
“This woman had committed adultery with another man when her husband was away. When the husband came, the man who impregnated her asked her to terminate the pregnancy,” Mading explained. “He went to a local doctor in the market and got some medication for abortion. But as a result, she got complications which led to constipation. She was rushed to Rumbek State Hospital and from there, she passed on.”
For his part, Rumbek State hospital administrator Mawet Bol said the woman died due to over bleeding. He said she was brought to the hospital after she had lost a lot of blood.
“The man bought drugs and gave them to the woman at home and complications occurred. The woman bled seriously at night till morning,” he said. “When she was brought to the hospital, we rushed her blood to the laboratory for testing and checked her blood but we found the woman was bleeding.”
He added that family members were asked to donate blood but she, unfortunately, passed on, a postmortem was done and her body was handed over to her family for burial.
“All the processes to rescue her were futile and were done in my presence until she passed away,” he concluded.