La Paz, Bolivia, Jul 21, 2006 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Various media sources in the Bolivian capital reported Thursday an unidentified non-governmental organization (NGO) has helped a 10 year-old girl obtain an abortion in violation of an order to await a Court ruling on the matter.

In a slight-of-hand intended to pressure public opinion to support the legalization of abortion, the unidentified organization ignored specialists who warned the procedure would entail serious risks for the girl who became pregnant through rape and was in her twelfth week of gestation.

According to the ATB network, the abortion took place in La Paz under the argument that the girl was having health problems and that authorities were taking too long to resolve the case.  Two weeks ago the parents had requested an abortion for the girl, with the backing of prominent feminist groups.

On Thursday a judge in the city of Quillacollo-where the rape occurred-was to issue a ruling on the parents’ petition, but the NGO in question did not wait for the decision.  According to Carlos Polo of the Population Research Institute, the case shows that those who are promoting abortion in the region are trying to use cases that have already occurred to achieve the legalization of this practice.”

“We’re dealing with a false ‘defense of women.’  But in reality this is nothing more than turning women who are poor or are in difficult situations into instruments of predetermined objectives, of a predefined agenda.  And real people end up becoming just a pretext,” Polo maintained.

“The promoters of abortion in Latin America have come up with new ways of achieving their goal.  Some time ago they abandoned the idea of getting a law passed solely by the executive or legislative branch that would legalize or decriminalize abortion. One of the reasons for his is their repeated failure to do so,” Polo warned.

He also pointed out that to propose abortion as a “solution” to a problem is deceptive.  “Abortion kills a child and harms the woman, sometimes in her body and more frequently in her mind.  Therefore, for whom is abortion good?” he asked.

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