A ten-year-old girl from Espírito Santo who became pregnant after being raped repeatedly is safe legally having an abortion. Her condition is stable after the medical procedure to terminate the pregnancy.
Brazilian law provides for the right to abortion when pregnancy results from rape and when there is a risk of death for the mother - both valid in this case and in cases of anencephaly of the fetus.
The abortion procedure started on Sunday (16) at a public maternity hospital in Recife under protests from Catholic and evangelical groups, led by conservative parliamentarians, and concluded on Monday.
She had to leave her state because the hospital sought by the family in Vitória refused to do the legal procedure urgently.
UNDERSTAND THE CASE
The violence against the girl from São Mateus, a city 218 km from Vitória, gained national repercussions. She was sexually abused over four years by an aunt's husband.
The 33-year-old man was indicted for threatening and raping a child and is a fugitive. According to the Secretariat of Justice of Espírito Santo (Sejus), the suspect has a history of drug trafficking.
Last Friday (14), Judge Antonio Moreira Fernandes, of the São Mateus Childhood and Youth Court, granted the right to legal abortion. In his dispatch, the magistrate shared the child's despair when a social worker attended her. When informed by the professional that she was pregnant, the girl "went into deep suffering, screamed, cried, and said she doesn't want to carry on with the pregnancy."
Fernandes said he respected the girl's will and supported by a demonstration in favor of the right to abortion defended by the Public Ministry of Espírito Santo.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon