Medical or surgical treatment
164.— (1) Where any person does an act in good faith, for
the purposes of medical or surgical treatment, an intent to cause death shall
not be presumed from the fact that the act was or appeared likely to cause
death.
(2) Any act which is done, in good faith and
without negligence, for the purposes of medical or surgical treatment of a
pregnant woman is justifiable, although it causes or is intended to cause a
termination of pregnancy or miscarriage, or premature delivery, or the death of
the child.
(3) Notwithstanding
section 165, the treatment for the termination of a pregnancy shall be lawful
if administered in accordance with the provisions of sections 166.
(4) For the
purposes of this section “termination of pregnancy” has the same meaning
assigned to it under section 166.
Explanation as to termination of pregnancy
165.— (1) Subject to section 166, the offence of causing a
termination of pregnancy or miscarriage of a woman can be committed either by
that woman or by any other person; and that woman or any other person may be
convicted of using means with intent to commit that offence, although the woman
is not in fact pregnant.
(2) The offence
of causing a termination of pregnancy is committed by causing a woman to be
prematurely delivered of a child, with intent unlawfully to cause or hasten the
death of the child.
(3) The person
who intentionally and unlawfully causes a termination of pregnancy or a
miscarriage is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for seven
years.
(4) For the
purposes of this section “termination of pregnancy” has the same meaning
assigned to it under section 166.
Termination of pregnancy in certain cases
166. — (1) In this section —
“medical practitioner” means any person registered as a duly
qualified medical practitioner under the Registration of Medical Practitioners
Act No. 13 of 1967 or any enactment replacing it;
“termination of pregnancy” means termination of human
pregnancy with an intention other than to produce a live birth.
(2) For the purposes of this
section, the duration of a pregnancy shall be determined —
.
(a)
by
calculating from the first day of the last normal menstruation of the pregnant
woman and ending on the last day of the relevant week; and
(b)
by clinical examination.
Where [two] medical practitioners have reason to believe
that —
(a)
the continuance of a pregnancy involves a risk to the
life of the pregnant woman;
(b)
the pregnancy is as a result of a rape or incest;
(c)
a termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or
mental health of the pregnant woman, the
medical practitioners may, with the consent of the pregnant woman or a person authorized by the pregnant woman,
administer treatment for the
termination of the pregnancy, if the length of the pregnancy does not exceed
twelve weeks.
(4) For purposes of this section
and notwithstanding any other provisions of this Code regarding rape or incest, where a treatment for termination of
pregnancy is pursuant to subsection
(3)(b), it shall be enough for a woman to show that a
rape or incest occurred by providing to the medical practitioners, a copy of a
police report in the form specified in the Eighth Schedule signed by the
Commissioner or a person authorized by him or her for that purpose, showing —
(a) the
date and time the incidence of the rape or incest was reported;
(b) that
an investigation by the police is underway.
(5) In the treatment of the
termination of a pregnancy of a woman of any marital status, while the medical
practitioners may encourage the woman to inform her partner, they are not required
either to obtain the partner’s consent or to notify him.
(6) A medical practitioner shall
advise a pregnant woman that she may seek pre-termination counselling
and to facilitate such counselling no treatment for a
termination shall be administrated until forty-eight hours after the woman has
made a request for such termination of pregnancy has passed.
(7) The following subsections do
not apply where the treatment to terminate the pregnancy is immediately
necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman or to prevent grave permanent
injury to her physical or mental health; namely —
(a) subsection (3) relating to the
number of medical opinions required;
(b) subsection (3) insofar as it
relates to the length of the pregnancy;
(c) subsection (6) relating to counselling; and in such circumstances a single
medical practitioner may administer
the treatment.
(8) No treatment for termination
of pregnancy shall be administered in accordance with this section at any place
other than at an approved institution certified by the Minister for Health by
Order in the Gazette.
Explanation as to causing harm to child at birth
167.— (1) Where harm is caused to a child during the time
of its birth, or where, upon the discovery of the concealed body of a child,
harm is found to have been caused to it, such harm shall be presumed to have
been caused to the child before its death.
(2) The expression “during the
time of birth” includes the period from the commencement of labour
to the time when the child so becomes an independent person.
Penalty for causing harm to child at birth
168. Any person who intentionally and unlawfully causes
harm to a living child during the time of its birth is liable on conviction on
indictment to imprisonment for ten years.
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