They investigate the judge who denied an abortion to a girl victim of rape in Brazil

The brazilian justice reported this Monday that it will investigate the conduct of a judge who denied an abortion to an 11-year-old girl who was the victim of rape, an assumption protected by legislation, according to The Intercept Brasil portal.

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The Court of Justice of the state of Santa Catarina (south) indicated in a statement that it has instituted a process in the administrative sphere for “the due determination of the facts” of this case, which is proceeding under summary secrecy “because it involves a minor of age”.

According to The Intercept Brasil, the family only realized that the minor was pregnant when they observed that her belly began to grow and before the repeated episodes of nausea that she had been suffering.

A rapid pharmacy test and a test at a private doctor confirmed last May that she was in an advanced stage of pregnancy, according to the aforementioned media.

It was then that they sought to interrupt the pregnancy of the little girl at the Polydoro Ernani University Hospital in Sao Thiago, in Florianopolis, the capital of Santa Catarina.

In Brazil, abortion is only allowed in cases of risk to the mother, rape, as in this case, or fetuses with anencephaly.

However, the medical team refused to perform the abortion due to internal hospital protocols, which reportedly only allow such a procedure up to 20 weeks’ gestation, and by then the girl was 22 weeks and 2 days old. For this reason, they demanded a judicial authorization, always according to The Intercept Brasil.

The case ended up in the hands of Judge Joana Ribeiro, who —at the request of the prosecutor Mirela Dutra— determined that the minor be admitted to a public shelter with the intention, at first, of protecting the victim from her aggressor and later to prevent the mother from “carrying out any procedure to operate the death of the baby.”

In a subsequent hearing to which The Intercept Brasil had access, Ribeiro argued that authorizing an abortion at this stage of the process would be a “homicide”, despite the fact that the victim has the right to it, as stipulated in the legislation for that type of cases.

The magistrate, with the support of the regional prosecutor, proposed —on May 9— keeping the pregnancy “one or two weeks” longer to increase the chances that the fetus will survive.

“Would you take a little longer?” The judge asked the girl at that hearing, according to The Intercept Brasil.

Ribeiro also asked the minor what “the expectations” she had “in relation to the baby”, if she wanted to “see it born”, what name would she give him and if the “father of the baby” – alluding to the alleged rapist – “would be agreed to give him up for adoption.”

“Today there is technology to save the baby and we have 30,000 couples who want the baby, who accept the baby. That sadness of you today (for the mother) and your daughter is the happiness of a marriage, ”said the judge, according to the aforementioned portal.

The Intercept Brasil pointed out that until this Monday the minor is still hospitalized in a public shelter when she is about to enter the 29th week of pregnancy, since most pregnancies have an average duration of between 37 and 42 weeks.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.