Results: 11 Year Old Argentine Rape Victim Who Fought To Legally Abort Her Fetus Made To Deliver Via C-Section In Terrible Example Of Child Cruelty

An 11-year-old Argentine girl was raped and impregnated by her grandmother's boyfriend. But after a lengthy legal battle to win the right for an abortion, doctors ended up delivering a baby via cesarean section at 23 weeks. Doctors say the baby has little chance of surviving, according to media reports. The uproar by anti-abortion forces in this predominantly Catholic country reignited a debate only six months after the Argentine Senate narrowly rejected a bill to legalize abortion. Are you in favor of the right to chose?

The ordeal began on Jan. 29, at week 19 of gestation, when the girl, identified only as "Lucia," went to a primary care center in Buyuirracu, in the northwest of Tucuman province, to complain of a "gut pain" that was diagnosed as a pregnancy. After suffering self-inflicted lesions resulting from apparent suicide attempts, Lucia was placed in state care. Her request for an abortion was delayed by almost five weeks, as some doctors refused to carry out the procedure and a legal row erupted over whether her mother or her grandmother had the legal right to speak on her behalf. Lucia had sought permission for an abortion eight times, including at the trial for her abuser, who is currently awaiting sentencing. Abortion in Argentina, which is nominally 70 percent Catholic and the home of Pope Francis, is illegal, except in cases of rape or if the mother's health is in danger. But Lucia's fight ran into delays, including a battle over whether her mother or grandmother was the legal guardian. At one point, the grandmother was stripped of her guardianship for cohabiting with the rapist. A major holdup, however, was the refusal of some doctors, calling themselves conscientious objectors, to perform the procedure. By the time the issues had been settled, the girl was in the 23rd week of her pregnancy. After the provincial Family Court ruled that the abortion was permissible, the doctors who were to perform the abortion, were assigned three hospital staff members – an anesthetist, a surgical technician, and nurse – who declared themselves as conscientious objectors and would not participate. Eventually, with Lucia sedated, doctors carried out a C-section instead of an abortion, arguing it would have been too risky to perform the latter. Do you feel this is a unfair outcome?

Do you agree or disagree with this statement: "Abortion is a legal option in the case of abuse or risk to life. The state has to ensure the procedure. Here there was the worst kind of cruelty with this child"?