10-Year-Old Pregnant By Stepfather, Not Allowed Late Term Abortion, Must Carry Infant To Term C-Section

In Paraguay, child sexual abuse is a common problem — so common, apparently, that there aren’t even adequate laws to protect young girls when they are impregnated by incestuous abuse situations. A 10-year-old girl was admitted to the hospital in Paraguay, where she was determined to be 23 weeks pregnant, due to being raped by her stepfather. The young girl’s mother has been arrested for helping her partner, Gilberto Benitez Zarate, escape from the authorities after his abuse of the unnamed child came to light. Benitez, 42, is now the subject of a massive manhunt.

The girl was admitted to the hospital in a poor section of Paraguay with what was thought to be a tumor, but soon was discovered that it was a live fetus that was nearing six months gestation. Although the girl’s mother assisted the stepfather to escape, she also pleaded the case to a judge to allow the child to have an abortion, which was rejected. The mother then pleaded the case to Health Minister Antonio Barrios, a pediatrician, who stated that the child could absolutely not have an abortion at 23 weeks pregnant. “It would have needed to be performed before 20 weeks,” he said.

UNICEF is very concerned about this situation and others like it in Paraguay, a country that statistically has two girls between the ages of 10 and 14 give birth every day, much of it thought to come from abuse situations like this one. Andrea Cid, a UNICEF child protection officer, said these cases are common and devastating.

“In Paraguay, every day two girls between the ages of 10 and 14 give birth. These cases are a consequence of sexual abuse, and in most situations, repeated sexual abuse from which the victims have not received timely, appropriate protection. Adolescent girls are not receiving adequate attention. This is our concern and we hope that in light of this case effective measures will be taken to protect them from intra-family violence.”

This case has caused renewed controversy in Paraguay over abortion. The hospital where the young girl was taken is considered to be a “clinic” hospital for the poor, and doctors state she will be given a cesarean section when she is full-term with the child. There is no word on whether or not she will be keeping the baby.

Cesarean sections, while perhaps not as long as most vaginal births, are still painful to recover from and have the potential for problems like infection, bleeding, blood clots, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

[Image credit to LifeSiteNews]