A Chinese woman facing possible execution for trafficking...

A Chinese woman facing possible execution for trafficking heroin was forced by police to have an abortion so she could be punished, Afp reported.
Ma Weihua, 29, was arrested in January by police in Lanzhou, the capital of the northwestern province of Gansu, for transporting 1,606 grams (56 ounces) of heroin in a vest. The amount of drugs she was carrying was enough to make her punishable by execution under China's strict criminal code.
During a routine physical examination in jail, she was told by doctors she was about 50 days' pregnant.
Ma wanted to keep the baby but Lanzhou's Chengguan police substation's anti-drug task force signed a consent form on her behalf ordering an abortion in February.
Ma's lawyer Weng Weihua argued for a lighter sentence during trial in the Lanzhou Intermediate People's Court last month, noting that Chinese law exempts people under age 18 and pregnant women from capital punishment.
He presented as evidence of the forced abortion the "consent form" in which a hospital official noted why Ma, who normally would not need total anesthesia for an early-term abortion, was put to sleep.
The form said: "Because the patient was uncooperative, Chengguan substation director requested forced implementation."
It was not clear whether police ordered the abortion because they hoped she would ultimately be sentenced to death or if they dreaded having to give her special treatment in jail due to her pregnancy.
A verdict is expected in coming days.
China has announced that from October 1 it would enforce new interrogation rules to curb abuses by police. Among other guidelines, they stipulate that pregnant women cannot be interrogated for more than four hours and should not be shut in detention rooms.