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Raped 10-year-old's pregnancy fuels Argentina abortion debate

เผยแพร่:   โดย: MGR Online

Campaigners for the Love Both pro-life campaign canvass members of the public, urging people to vote no in the referendum to repeal the eighth amendment of the Irish constitution, in Dublin on May 24, 2018. Ireland will hold a referendum on May 25 on whether to alter its constitution to legalise abortion. The Eighth Amendment of the Irish constitution recognises the equal right to life of the unborn and the mother. Abortion is illegal unless there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother, and a woman convicted of having an illegal termination faces 14 years imprisonment. Barry Cronin/AFP

May 25, 2018
(AFP) - The pregnancy of a 10-year-old girl raped by her stepfather has shocked Argentina, where debate on decriminalizing abortion is in full force ahead of a congressional vote next month.

The child was found to be 21 weeks pregnant when she was taken to hospital with stomach pain.

Current legislation allows terminations in the event of rape or danger to the mother's health, but in conservative Salta province, where the girl lives, abortion in case of rape is permitted only during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

According to authorities in that province, the girl and her mother declined an abortion in a letter -- but feminist activist Mariana Carvajal has expressed doubts about that version of events.

"The family is terrified. They told the mother than an abortion was very risky. What we don't know, is what the girl thinks. An abortion is still possible," Carvajal, founder of the feminist NiUnaMenos movement against gender-based violence, told AFP.

Carvajal added the child was first hospitalized in February, during the first 12 weeks of her pregnancy, but was diagnosed with constipation.

It was during the second visit that she revealed she was regularly raped by her mother's partner.

According to Unicef, 2,700 girls aged 10 to 14 give birth every year in Argentina.

On June 13, Argentina's congress will vote on decriminalizing abortion. Despite opposition from the Church, most people approve of the proposed legislation, according to polls.


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