Pregnant at 10 and abortion's not an option

[wendy]

Pregnant at 10 and abortion's not an option - this is not in the UK - YET

By Linda Pressly BBC News, Asuncion

10 September 2015


Earlier this year, a 10-year-old girl in Paraguay made headlines when she arrived at a hospital 20 weeks pregnant. But this was not a one-off case. Last year, more than 700 girls aged 14 and younger gave birth in this South American nation of seven million people.

At the Casa Rosa Maria in Paraguay's capital, Asuncion, the kitchen is full of chattering girls preparing food to celebrate the 13th birthday of a new resident - a girl who is five months pregnant. Nine of them live at this spacious mother-and-baby home run by the local Catholic Church. It's a joyful place that echoes with the sound of teenage laughter, scampering toddlers and gurgling babies.

In the kitchen in a stripy jumper and jeans, rocking her hefty-looking one-year-old son on a hip that's hardly there, is Perla. She is 12. Perla was raped by her brother when she was 10, and became a mother at 11.

Perla's one of 200 girls who have passed through the doors of the Casa Rosa Maria, some as young as nine.

"When they are so young and they are plucked from ordinary family life and brought here, it can be very hard for them," says Cilsa Vera, who is in charge. "But we give them good health care, clothing and food, and they adapt very quickly."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34195973

What do you think?

[annie]

I listened to this on radio 4 yesterday, it was heartbreaking

[JaneJ]

I look at my daughter who is 13 next week and can't imagine her even thinking about sex. She can't even say the word without blushing. I find it so hard to envision girls even younger than her giving birth. Breaks my heart too Annie

[Rosalind]

How sad.