10-year-old's pregnancy fuels Mexican abortion debate

[ccharles000]

Mexico City, Mexico (CNN) -- A pregnant 10-year-old, allegedly raped by her stepfather, has become the latest lightning rod in the country's heated abortion debate.

The girl's stepfather has been arrested. But advocates on both sides of the issue say their battle is just beginning.

"This girl is much more than an isolated case," said Adriana Ortiz-Ortega, a researcher at Mexico's National Autonomous University who has written two books on abortion in Mexico, "and there is much more influence now from conservative groups that are trying to prevent the legalization of abortion."

Abortion is legal in Mexico's capital city, but prohibited or significantly restricted in most of the country's states. The girl's home state of Quintana Roo, on the Yucatan peninsula, allows abortion in cases of rape during the first 90 days of the pregnancy. But the 10-year-old girl is at 17½ weeks, nearly a month past that limit.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/04/19/mexico.abortion/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

[Warpy]

1. Childbirth would rip her body apart.

If they won't abort her in Mexico, they need to send her someplace that will.

The less time they spend letting the priests howl, the better for that poor child.

[HockeyMom]

2. Not just the physical damage

How long would this child suffer the extreme trama of both the rape and the forced pregnancy? It would be horrible for the average adult woman, let alone a child of 10. As a woman who actually did start having periods at the age of 10, I can tell you I would never have been in any condition, physically or mentally, to bear a child at that age.

Child abuse in the name of RELIGION.

[elocs]

3. I remember seeing that here yesterday:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8184405

[Ilsa]

4. I don't understand why they waited so long. That poor girl. Rape and now this. nt