Mexico's Lizbeth Gamboa Song Says 10-Year-Old Girl ' Has Proper Understanding' of Delivering Her Baby in Rape Case

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Abortions may be legal in Mexico, even upheld by the Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn the law in 2008, but the Vatican and Conservative groups are adamant that abortion will not be legal in the country.

Today we have a pregnant 10-year-old girl, allegedly raped by her stepfather, who is front and center in the abortion debate.

Abortion is another of those ‘above the law’ principles that transcends democratically-elected legislative bodies and supreme court decisions. On the subject of abortion, the Conservative Catholic patriarchy rules apart from law.

So chilling is the movement to contain abortion in Mexico that states are turning against women, threatening them with 50 years in prison if they have a “legal” abortion in the country. Read 2009 Women Face 50 Years in Prison for Getting a Legal Abortion in Mexico.

Conservatives and the Catholic Church say “too bad” even if bearing the child puts the girl’s own life in danger. The girl is technically — as Representative Stupak clinically described conception — a “womb with occupant.”

The rights of the 10-year-girl do not take any priority over the unwanted “occupant” of her womb.

In her home state of Quintana Roo, on the Yucatan peninsula, abortion is allowed in cases of rape during the first 90 days of the pregnancy. Unfortunately, the 10-year-old girl is at 171/2 weeks, nearly a month past that limit.

The girl has been placed in protective custody while adults argue over what’s to be done. The Catholic Church says no abortion under any circumstances. Pro-women advocates insist that the girl’s family wasn’t informed of her right to an abortion in cases of rape, even in the state of Yucatan, which has amended the national abortion law. via CNN

Note that Mexico’s First Lady Margarita Zavala is opposed to abortion and wants the law overturned. via NYTimes

Lizbeth Gamboa Song, director of the Mexico’s National System for the Comprehensive Development of the FamilyAlso, I will print the Catholic News Agency report verbatim on this case, because I don’t wish to distort their view in any way. Thinking people can make up their own minds on this issue. My own views are well-articulated:

Chetumal, Mexico, Apr 19, 2010 / 02:09 pm (CNA).- Despite protests and pressure from feminists and pro-abortion groups, an 11-year-old girl in the Mexican city of Chetumal has refused to undergo an abortion.  The young girl explained her decision saying that she understands, “a life is growing in her womb.”

The girl is receiving medical attention at a local clinic, where doctors say the results of psychological tests have been positive.  The recent tests, said Lizbeth Gamboa Song, director of the National System for the Comprehensive Development of the Family, show the girl has a proper understanding of the new life within her and of what to expect during the pregnancy.

Dr. Juan Carlos Navarrete Jaimes of the Merida Clinic performed an ultrasound on the girl and found the mother and child to be in excellent health.  He also provided guidance on the prenatal care she needs during the coming months to ensure the pregnancy proceeds without complications.

Gamboa said that while the girl understands she is carrying a new life within her, “She does not yet fully realize the consequences of what it will mean to raise and care for a child” because of her young age.

“She understands what happens before a pregnancy, she knows her womb will grow, she knows at some point her water will break, and she knows how the baby will be born,” Gamboa said.