South Korea woman acquitted of murdering newborn after hospital delivery

The video triggered public uproar and a criminal complaint from the health ministry. Police then launched an investigation into her and her doctors.The trial against Kwon and her doctors marked the first time that murder charges had been pressed against a woman seeking late-stage termination of their pregnancy, as well as the doctors involved in the procedure.While abortions were decriminalised in South Korea 2019, there is no clear regulation on how far into pregnancy it can be carried out.Prosecutors in Kwon's case said the baby was born alive through a Caesarean section and placed in a freezer until it died. The hospital staff then falsified Kwon's medical records to make it look like she had a stillbirth, prosecutors said.Kwon's lawyer argued that she did not know the baby would be killed after being removed from her womb. This was also the argument that her appeal hinged on.The judge who gave the initial verdict in March ruled that Kwon had known the baby would be born alive through Caesarean section.But on Thursday, the appeals court ruled that this might not have been the case, as a broker had told Kwon the baby would be stillborn.Heekyoung Cho, Amnesty International Korea's executive director, said in a statement that the group welcomed the court's decision to acquit Kwon, but added that the void in South Korea's abortion law has "left pregnant people without clear legal protections and access to essential reproductive healthcare".