{"id":234827,"date":"2020-11-18T13:38:19","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T19:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=234827"},"modified":"2020-11-18T15:36:34","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T21:36:34","slug":"bangladesh-arrests-college-dies-botched-illegal-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/bangladesh-arrests-college-dies-botched-illegal-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangladesh authorities make arrests after college student dies from botched illegal abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Four arrests have been made in the South Asian country of Bangladesh months after a college student died from complications of a botched illegal abortion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rifat Sultana<\/a> was brought by a friend to City Health Clinic in the major metropolitan port city of Chattogram, also known as Chittagong, on May 15. City Health Clinic does not employ any licensed doctors or nurses, and the abortion was reportedly committed by several unlicensed nurses as well as a janitor. At some point after the abortion, the clinic staff understood that Rifat was in “critical” condition and called for a doctor, but the facility director did not send one, and the young woman subsequently died. Her family was notified of her death by facility staff, who claimed that she died because of coronavirus.<\/p>\n

A Dhaka Tribune<\/a> article reports that the woman’s father, Khokon Miyaji, quickly suspected otherwise saying, “When we brought her home we saw different marks on her body and suspected she hadn’t died of the virus. We then informed the police.”<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Authorities arrest \u2018fake\u2019 doctors in Kenya for illegal abortions at franchise run by Marie Stopes<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Six months later, justice is being served for Rifat, as the two unlicensed nurses and the janitor who committed the abortion, as well as the facility director, were all arrested last week and the City Health Clinic was closed off to the public pending an investigation by the police and the Civil Surgeon’s office. The young woman’s boyfriend was arrested previously in connection with the case.<\/p>\n

While the gestational age of Rifat Sultana’s preborn baby is unknown, Bangladesh does have a law allowing vacuum aspiration abortions or the abortion pill regimen to be administered up to 12 weeks after a woman’s last menstrual period for “menstrual regulation” \u2014\u00a0a euphemism for abortion.<\/p>\n