Romanian girl, 11, will have abortion in Britain
June 28, 2008
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AN 11-year-old Romanian girl will be brought to Britain for an abortion after she was allegedly raped by her teenage uncle.
The girl is 20 weeks pregnant but Romanian law allows terminations up to only 14 weeks.
Her parents are desperate for her to have an abortion quickly - and authorities last night ruled it could go ahead.
Her father said the family would have travelled to Britain, where abortions can be carried out up to 24 weeks, anyway.
A wealthy Romanian businesswoman living in London has spoken to the family and promised to make arrangements for the abortion and cover all the costs.
“We will take the UK offer and have arranged to fly out Tuesday. The clinic is already arranged,” the father said.
The case has caused uproar in Romania, bitterly splitting the legal and medical communities, child rights groups and the public. The girl’s father said his daughter had been raped twice by an uncle in Piatra Soimului, eastern Romania.
The family had expected an abortion would be simple to secure because of Florina’s age.
“She was just a child herself and one who had been raped and betrayed by one of her own family,” said a family friend. “How could anyone expect her to go through with the pregnancy and have the baby?”
Health ministry official and panel member Vlad Iliescu last night said the abortion would be allowed under Romanian law because the girl was a victim of sexual abuse.
The girl faced “major risks to her mental health” if the pregnancy continued.
But the committee also decided that no changes in current relevent legislation were needed, simply “clarifications with regard to the exceptional circumstances” allowing abortions to go ahead.
Under Romanian law, abortions are allowed up until the 14th week of the pregnancy if the mother’s life is endangered or if the foetus suffers from malformation.
The girl’s parents discovered the pregnancy when she underwent a medical check-up after she complained of stomach pains. By then, she was already 17 weeks pregnant.
Two medical panels then examined the girl, who is now 21 weeks pregnant - the first finding in favour of an abortion, the second against.
The second panel found that “having examined the girl … the pregnancy is proceeding naturally and termination should therefore not be imposed”.
“The fact that the pregnancy stemmed from rape was not taken into account by the panel, for two reasons: one, because rape has not been proven; and two, because the penal code does not allow for any exceptions,” said Vica Todosiciuc, head of the Cuza Voda maternity section in the city of Iasi, last week.
“This was a very difficult decision for the doctors to make. They searched for a medical reason which would allow them to authorise a termination, but none was found,” Todosiciuc said.
The inter-ministerial panel was therefore asked to make a final ruling on the case.
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