London, England, Jun 27, 2008 / 23:12 pm
An 11-year-old Romanian rape victim has been flown to the United Kingdom for an abortion after she was refused one in her home country. The case has ignited a controversy that has put Orthodox Christian groups at odds with a Romanian Orthodox Church spokesman who said the case was exceptional and the decision to abort should be up to the girl’s family.
The girl was allegedly raped twice at the age of ten by a 19-year-old man while she stayed with his family at a village in the northeastern Romanian county of Neamt, the Telegraph says.
The girl’s pregnancy was not discovered until her child had reached 17 weeks, which is 3 weeks past the timeframe allowed under Romanian law for an abortion. The country allows abortions up until the 14th week of pregnancy and then only if the mother’s life is in danger or if the fetus suffers deformities.
The father of the girl said the alleged rapist had threatened her.