Regarding the body of a fetus found at a sewage treatment plant in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, police projections indicate that even if the mother is identified, criminal punishment will likely be difficult.
At around 11:30 p.m. on September 28, the body of a baby boy, measuring 20 cm in length and weighing 110 g, was found unclothed at a wastewater collection basin of a sewage treatment facility in Tangjeong-myeon, Asan.
The degree of decomposition was not severe, and the umbilical cord was found still attached.
Based on the size of the body, police estimate the fetus was at around 16 weeks of gestation.
Wastewater from nearby businesses, worker dormitories, and surrounding villages and commercial areas flows into the collection basin. Because security guards are stationed there, restricting external access, police are focusing on the possibility that the body flowed down through the pipeline.
Police have requested an autopsy and DNA analysis of the fetal body to determine the exact cause of death and identify the mother.
However, even if the mother is identified, the facts confirmed so far make it highly likely that the case will not lead to criminal punishment.
A fetus at 16 weeks of gestation has not yet reached delivery, and under criminal law, a fetus is not considered a "person," meaning provisions for infant abandonment or infanticide cannot be applied.
In 1982, the Supreme Court ruled that a human life begins at the onset of delivery, specifically when labor pains begin.
Furthermore, the crime of self-abortion, which penalized pregnant women who terminated their own pregnancies, has been void since 2021.
Some raise the possibility that the mother may have terminated the pregnancy using medication, but even in such cases, a pregnant woman who takes abortion pills is not subject to punishment.
Police stated, "We can make a judgment only after objective facts such as the autopsy and DNA test results come out," adding, "We plan to verify the inflow route and investigate the exact circumstances based on the autopsy results."
Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Kim Min-ji | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News
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