Published: 7:21pm, 8 Aug 2025Updated: 7:22pm, 8 Aug 2025
Hong Kong police have arrested 11 domestic workers for allegedly selling illegal abortion pills or performing abortions unlawfully after one of the suspects was believed to have killed a fetus older than the legal limit of 24 weeks of pregnancy.
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While police said on Friday that they believed the helpers were not operating as a crime syndicate, they warned that it was a criminal offence in Hong Kong to administer pharmaceutical drugs to perform abortions illegally.
The saga came to light on June 2 when Yuen Long police received a report that a 39-year-old domestic helper had collapsed at her employer’s home in Tin Shui Wai, northwestern New Territories.
“Paramedics arrived and discovered the helper had given birth to a fetus, which was later found to be dead,” said Inspector Lam Ho-yin of the Yuen Long police district crime squad.
“The fetus was about 35cm [13.8 inches] long. There was no indication it was a live birth.”
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Subsequent investigations revealed that the helper, who was later arrested for “child destruction”, had earlier bought medication for an abortion from a friend who was also a domestic worker.
On July 6, police arrested the second domestic helper, aged 32, at Hong Kong airport for allegedly selling abortion pills.