A woman was captured on hospital CCTV pleading for a caesarean moments before she killed herself (Picture: Peoples Daily Online)

This is the distressing moment a heavily pregnant woman begged her family for a caesarean moments before she fell from the fifth floor and died.

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Shocking footage shows the 26-year-old woman, whose surname is Ma, pleading for a caesarean after her baby’s head, which was too large for a natural delivery, caused her intense pain.

Just hours later, the woman reportedly killed herself when her family, who under Chinese law had to give permission, refused her surgery.

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This video shows her hobbling around the maternity ward at No 1 Hospital in the city of Yulin in Shaanxi Province, northern China in the final hours before her death.




She is seen walking around, aided by an unknown man, and falling to the floor doubled over in pain.

At one point, she leans against a wall and looks almost ready to collapse.

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Under Chinese law, the woman’s family has to give their permission for her to have a caesarean (Picture: Peoples Daily Online)

She is also seen kneeling on the floor in distress as others, who appear to be her family, crowd around her.

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The woman, who was reportedly 41 weeks pregnant, cannot stand unaided as she is visibly upset and in pain.

Doctors examined her and determined that she needed a caesarean as she was not able to give birth naturally because the baby’s head was too big.

But her family insisted on a natural birth and refused her the right to undergo the procedure.

The woman was reportedly 41 weeks pregnant at the time (Picture: Peoples Daily Online)

Under Chinese law, family must give their permission for a woman to have a C-section.

The woman fell to her death from the fifth floor after repeatedly trying to leave the medical centre. Her unborn baby also died in the incident.

The woman’s medical notes read: ‘The pregnant woman twice walked out of the ward to tell her family that she wanted a caesarean because she could no longer bear the pain, but the family continued to insist on a natural delivery.’

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She reportedly jumped from a fifth floor window (Picture: Peoples Daily Online)

Police told local media that the woman’s death was being treated as a suicide.

Her death has sparked protests online with other women calling for greater reproductive rights.

One person wrote online, ‘Besides the pregnant woman, nobody else should have had a say, while another said: ‘A married woman isn’t a tool for producing babies, how can people still be so ignorant these days!’

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