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Pro-Abortion Group in Nicaragua Caught Aiding Rapist Escape Criminal Investigation

Famous "hard case" of pregnant nine year old called into question

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
Part I of a III part series.

Part II: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07081603.html
Part III: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07081604.html

MANAGUA, August 16, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Known to the world only as "Rosita," a nine year old Nicaraguan child impregnated by a rapist several years ago became the international poster girl for the pro-abortion movement.  Since 2003 her "hard case" pregnancy has been used to promote the cause of "therapeutic abortion" in Nicaragua and worldwide, inspiring numerous articles, petition drives, and even a documentary featured on the cable TV channel Cinemax. 

Now, media sources in Nicaragua have uncovered the fact that "Rosita" has a living child (different from the unborn child that was ultimately aborted in the high-profile 2003 case) by her own stepfather, the very man who pro-abortion feminists helped to escape Costa Rica during a criminal investigation of the original rape.  The scandal has made headlines across Nicaragua, and government authorities are attempting to find the stepfather, Francisco Fletes Sanchez, who is now in hiding.

As documented in earlier LifeSiteNews.com coverage, Fletes had been suspected by investigators from the beginning of the case in 2003, when "Rosita's" pregnancy was accidentally discovered in Costa Rica by medical authorities while treating the girl for a vaginal infection.  The family attempted at that time to blame a Costa Rican man, who denied the charges. 

When pro-abortion feminists from the "Network of Women Against Violence" discovered the girl's situation, they helped Fletes and his wife to smuggle Rosita out of Costa Rica and back to Nicaragua, where they used the case as part of their campaign to promote "therapeutic abortion" in Latin America, claiming that the procedure was necessary to protect the health of the girl.  In the absence of the stepfather, Costa Rican authorities were unable to obtain the DNA tests necessary to prove the true identity of the rapist.

Ultimately, the feminist group secured an abortion at an unnamed site in Nicaragua after obtaining signed approval from three handpicked doctors.  Rosita's extreme case was trumpeted by the pro-abortion movement worldwide as a heroic rescue of a victimized child, and an example of the need to make abortion more available to women in Latin America.  The family was protected from government questioning by the "Network", and after the abortion they were given a house to live in by the organization.  Attempts by Costa Rica to further the criminal investigation against Fletes were also thwarted by the protection of the organization and the failure of Nicaraguan authorities to pursue the case.

However, the revelation that Rosita has a child, now eighteen months old, fathered by her stepfather, has all but eliminated doubt about the identity of Rosita's rapist in 2003. 

Fletes, who is in hiding, has admitted in telephone interviews that he has had an ongoing sexual relationship with his stepdaughter, and claims that his wife has known all along.  He also claims that Rosita is several years older than previously believed, a claim also made by neighbors of the family.  Should that be the case it would further erode the health concerns cited by doctors in 2003 to justify Rosita's abortion. 

Nicaraguan authorities are now engaged in a nationwide manhunt for Fletes.
Dr. Rafael Cabrera Artola, president of the pro-life group ANPROVIDA and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the Institute of Medical Science in Nicaragua, told LifeSiteNews.com that the recent revelations would be very damaging to the pro-abortion movement in Nicaragua, which has been caught in "a lie, a deception."

"This is going to wake up Nicaragua in the sense that, yes, eighty percent of the population, according to the most recent polls, are against abortion...I think that this is going to cause the mask to fall from the group that supports abortion, and this percentage is going to increase more," Cabrera told LifeSiteNews.com.

Carlos Polo, the Population Research Institute's director for Latin America, remarked to the Catholic news agency ACI Prensa that "the organizations in favor of abortion have no moral limit for achieving their goals.  And that should not surprise us because their purpose is to kill an innocent child.  Therefore, to lie blatantly or protect a rapist to achieve a law does not escape their possibilities."

Under heated questioning from the Nicaraguan media at a recent press conference, representatives of the "Network of Women Against Violence" admitted that they had known about the birth of "Rosita's" child, but that they had been told the father was a boyfriend from her school. "The abuser is always a very able, intelligent, and fairly manipulative person," stated a representative to the Nuevo Diario newspaper in Nicaragua. "The truth is, this aggressor tricked all of us." 

After four years of using "Rosita" as a "symbol" of the movement for "therapeutic abortion", the Network's representatives downplayed the importance of the case, which they said was "similar to many in which we intervene as an organization." When a reporter, astounded, reminded the representative that "She's 'Rosita', remember?"  the Network responded "Yes, but this case is nothing different from what we are familiar with.  We're talking about an abuser and a victim, a girl."

Part II: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07081603.html
Part III: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07081604.html

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