DUBAI: The family of a 13-year-old girl, who claims she was raped by her father’s colleague, has had to endure a court battle for their daughter to be allowed to terminate her pregnancy.
Her pregnancy was only discovered after her parents sought medical treatment for her, thinking she was obese and now 30 weeks pregnant, the Mumbai girl needs the permission of the Supreme Court to undergo an abortion, as Indian law only allows terminations after 20 weeks when the mother’s life is in danger.
The alleged rapist has been arrested.
Dr. Nikhil Datar, Mumbai-based gynecologist told the BBC: “(The girl’s parents) suspected she had a thyroid problem or some other medical condition because she was gaining weight… The scan showed that she was 27 weeks pregnant so I informed the police.”
The doctor recommended the abortion because the girl’s pelvis is not fully developed and giving birth would cause her “physical and mental trauma.”
This is the second such case in India in the last two months. A 10-year-old girl, who was repeatedly raped by her uncle, gave birth to a child earlier this month.
In that case India’s Supreme Court rejected pleas for an abortion because it was deemed to not be in the interest “of the child or the live fetus.”
The baby was delivered by C-section according to local reports, the girl unaware that she was about to have a baby, but instead told she needed surgery to remove a stone from her stomach.
The 10-year-old’s father has requested the child be put up for adoption.
Her parents discovered she was pregnant when she said she had stomach pains.
She later told her mother that she had been raped by her maternal uncle six times when he visited their home.
In her case the Chief Justice J S Khehar-headed bench rejected the girl’s plea that she faced a “grave threat” to her life.