9-Year-Old’s Abortion: Mother & Doctors Excommunicated

A nine-year-old girl who was impregnated by her stepfather and received an abortion has been at the centre of a storm of controversy in staunchly Catholic Brazil, as in response to the abortion a Catholic archbishop excommunicated the girl’s mother and the doctors who performed the procedure, saying abortion is worse than rape.

The girl is said to have been sexually assaulted by her 23-year-old stepfather, and months after began complaining of stomach pains. Her mother took her to the hospital, and doctors established that the girl was four months pregnant, with twins.

Realising that the girl’s pelvis was far too small to accommodate the delivery of the infant, and judging that the pregnancy would endanger the life of the mother, doctors recommended the pregnancy be ended. The mother assented.

“As doctors, we could not allow a girl of 9 to suffer like this, until she paid with her own life.”

The archbishop of Olinda and Recife damned all those involved in the abortion, excommunicating everyone involved: “Rape is a great sin, but abortion is an even greater sin.”

Abortion is illegal in Brazil unless “the pregnancy puts the life of the woman in serious risk, or if the pregnancy is the result of a rape”. This case was recognised as being quite legal.

The Church has since faced a storm of criticism for the decision, with even the Health Minister weighing in: “I am shocked by the radical position of this religion which, wrongly saying it is defending a life, puts another life in danger that is as important as any other.”

The stepfather who impregnated the nine-year-old was arrested and admitted to having his way with the child since she was six. He was not excommunicated