A YOUNG barista has been sentenced to nine months in prison after pleading guilty to unlawfully terminating her five-month pregnancy using pills bought online for RM600.
Norazzeti Azima Awang Long, 21, was convicted under Section 315 of the Penal Code for intentionally preventing a child from being born alive. The charge carries a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.
Magistrate Sharda Shienha Mohd Suleiman handed down the sentence at the Ayer Keroh Magistrates’ Court on Thursday and ordered that the prison term commence from the date of her arrest on 19 May.
The offence took place on the night of 12 May, inside the bathroom of a residential unit in Melaka Tengah, where Norazzeti ingested Misoprostol — a drug commonly used to induce abortions — with the intention of ending her pregnancy.
According to the facts of the case, the accused later sought treatment at Melaka Hospital, initially claiming she had suffered a miscarriage. She eventually admitted to purchasing and consuming the abortion pills and confessed to handing the foetus to a friend for burial.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Syaza Nur Sharif urged the court to impose an appropriate sentence, highlighting the rise in similar social issues and the gravity of the offence.
In mitigation, defence counsel Muhammad Izzuddin Ab Malek appealed for a lenient sentence, stating that Norazzeti had acted under severe emotional distress after allegedly being pressured persistently by her boyfriend to terminate the pregnancy.
He also noted that the young woman supports three younger siblings and her ailing father on a monthly income of approximately RM1,800.
The case has sparked renewed attention to issues of reproductive rights, online access to abortion drugs, and the social and legal challenges faced by young women in similar circumstances. - May 23, 2024
