MANAGUA, February 20, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A medical board set up by the Nicaraguan government to determine the risk of abortion to a 9-year-old Nicaraguan girl impregnated during a rape in Costa Rica, released its ruling Wednesday. The board of three physicians appointed by authorities and two doctors selected by the girl’s parents, examined the girl at the Fernando Velez Paiz Children’s Hospital in Managua. Their decision on the matter is that the girl runs the same risks whether she carries her baby to term or aborts the unborn child. The board ruled that the girl, who is nearly four months pregnant, “runs the potential risk of suffering severe damage, including death, in either of the alternatives.”
The girl’s parents have said that if she is not given permission to abort in Nicaragua they would take her abroad for the procedure. A Spanish abortuary, the Dator Clinic in Madrid, has offered a free abortion for the girl, however the Catholic Church in both Nicaragua and Costa Rica has offered assistance to save both the girl and her unborn child. See the AP coverage at: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030219/ap_wo_en_ge/la_gen_nicaragua_pregnant_girl_1 See related LifeSite coverage: PREGNANT 9-YEAR-OLD RAPE VICTIM BEING USED TO PUSH ABORTION LEGALIZATION http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/feb/03021802.html