The Court of Appeal in Samoa has upheld a conviction against a nurse for having performed illegal abortions.
Akalita Apelu was tried in June last year on 16 counts of unlawfully using an instrument with intent to procure the miscarriage of a woman or girl.
She was sentenced in the supreme court to two and a half years for terminations carried out over a period of about four years from 1999.
Apelu appealed her conviction.
But the Appeal Court said while not all abortions are illegal Apelu was not doctor and if she was acquitted there would be virtually unrestricted abortion on demand.
