Fetus found at wastewater treatment plant in Asan... Mother says she flushed the toilet without knowing she had given birth

[Financial News] After the body of a male fetus measuring about 20 centimeters was found on the 28th of last month at a wastewater treatment plant in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, police identified the mother through DNA testing but found no evidence of a crime and closed the case as an unexplained death.
According to Asan Police Station and other sources on the 30th, an autopsy by the National Forensic Service confirmed that the fetus had died before birth.
In questioning by police, the mother said, “I thought the abdominal pain meant I needed to have a bowel movement, so I went to the bathroom,” and stated, “I flushed the toilet without knowing the fetus had been delivered.”
The fetus is believed to have entered the treatment plant through a drain and sewage pipes. The wastewater treatment plant where it was found receives wastewater from businesses and dormitories in a nearby industrial complex, as well as residential areas in Tangjeong.
In the past, pregnant women who terminated their pregnancies themselves could be punished under the criminal offense of self-induced abortion. But in 2019, the Constitutional Court of Korea ruled that the provision was nonconforming to the Constitution and required the law to be amended by the following year. No replacement legislation was enacted, however, and the provision lost effect in 2021.
A police official said, “In effect, there is no law that applies to this case.”
[email protected] An Ga-eul Reporter