By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
MANAGUA, November 19, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Nicaraguan Pro Human Rights Association (ANPDH) has filed charges against members of the “Women’s Network Against Violence”, a network of pro-abortion feminist groups, for their role in covering up the rape of a nine year old girl and protecting her victimizer in an attempt to promote “therapeutic abortion” in Nicaragua (see recent coverage at https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/nov/07111609.html).
According to the Managuan daily La Prensa, Roberto Petray of ANPDH has accused nine members of the Network of colluding with Francisco Fletes, the stepfather of “Rosita” (as she is referred to by the press to protect her identity), who was raped and impregnated in 2003.
The Network used the pregnancy of Rosita to promote their abortionist agenda in Nicaragua, and in the process helped to cover up the girl’s rape by her stepfather, who fled Costa Rican authorities with their aid. With the abortion of Rosita’s child and the secretive disposal of its remains that followed, DNA testing could not be done by the Nicaraguan authorities.
The charges filed include omitting required medical procedures for obtaining a “therapeutic abortion” (legal at that time in Nicaragua) and concealing evidence of the rape by secretly disposing of the body of the aborted child.
The organization also states that while the Network was taking care of the family in the years following the abortion, they learned about Fletes’ relationship with his stepdaughter and helped to hide the situation.
The charges state: “They gave them housing and furniture, and according to witnesses, neighbors in the area, the women of the Network knew that the girl they knew as ‘Rosita’ was pregnant and was subject to sexual abuse on the part of her stepfather Francisco Leonardo Fletes Sanchez, a fact that the members of the Network hid.”
Despite the conviction of Fletes and their intimate involvement in the case, representatives of the Network still refuse to apologize for their actions. “The Network fulfilled the role that corresponded to it,” said a spokeswoman, “which was to save the life of the girl and for us the most important thing in every case is the life of women, of girls, boys and adolescents who are running a risk and if in that moment that pregnancy meant the coming death of the girl, we believe that there is no reason to be sorry that that situation occurred.”
However, the original doctors treating Rosita, as well as a panel of medical experts convoked to examine the case in 2003, denied that she was in mortal danger from the pregnancy. Three anonymous doctors recruited by the Network reportedly disagreed and secretly carried out the abortion in 2003. The Network used the abortion as a “hard case” to press the issue of decriminalizing abortion in Nicaragua. However, the opposite occurred, and in 2006 Nicaragua eliminated “therapeutic abortion” from its criminal code, thus criminalizing all abortions except indirect procedures to save a woman’s life. The Nicaraguan Congress reaffirmed the law last week, voting to include it in the new criminal code.
Related LifeSiteNews coverage:
Molestation Coverup Proven in Internationally Famous Abortion Case in Nicaragua
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/nov/07111609.html
Recent three-part series on “Rosita” case:
Part I: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07081602.html
Part II: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07081603.html
Part III: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07081604.html
Nicaragua Government Moves to Close Legal Loophole Allowing Abortion
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jul/04072705.html
Questions Still Unanswered in Case of Nine-Year-Old Nicaraguan
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/apr/03040404.html
No Charges Laid in Nicaragua Abortion
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/mar/03030411.html
Ipas’ Marta Maria Blandon Involved in Abortion Deception
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jan/070105a.html
Women’s Health Journal Interview with Ipas Director Marta Maria Blandon
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Marta+Maria+Blandon+and+Lorna+Norori%3a+%22we+have…