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Section history

Section 315 — Child destruction before, at or immediately after birth

As in force on 1 March 2022.

Timeline 6 versions
  1. 30 March 1987 Enacted
  2. 1 February 2008 Act 51 of 2007
  3. 30 November 2008 Revised edition
  4. 1 January 2020 Act 15 of 2019
  5. 31 December 2021 Revised edition
  6. 1 March 2022 You are here
  7. 17 August 2026 Latest
315.Child destruction before, at or immediately after birth

(1)Subject to the provisions of the Termination of Pregnancy Act 1974, whoever, with intent to destroy the life of a child capable of being born alive, by any intentional act causes a child to die before it has an existence independent of its mother or by such act causes the child to die after its birth, shall, unless such act is immediately necessary to save the life of the mother, be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, or with fine, or with both.

(2)For the purposes of this section, evidence that a woman had at any material time been pregnant for a period of 28 weeks or more shall be prima facie evidence that she was at that time pregnant of a child capable of being born alive.