LONDON (LifeSiteNews) — A young U.K. girl who became pregnant by rape at just 10 years old must abort her preborn baby, a High Court judge has ruled.
Citing court documents from last month, Fox News reported that the now-11-year-old girl, identified in court documents only as AZ, had met a 14-year-old boy online while just 10 years old and was raped by him in May, conceiving a child. She was reportedly raped by a second 14-year-old boy shortly after her 11th birthday.
London High Court judge Emma Arbuthnot ordered the girl to abort her baby this week, agreeing with the unanimous determination of a health board despite the fact that the 11-year-old said she didn’t want an abortion and was supported in that decision by her mother.
According to Arbuthnot, the child was 14 weeks and six days pregnant at the time and “said she was ‘happy’ to be pregnant and wanted to continue with it,” saying that it made her feel “special” even after “the many risks of continuing with the pregnancy were explained to her.”
However, in her ruling, the judge dismissed the girl’s desire to keep the baby as being based upon “naive magical thinking,” and said “[a]n important factor in AZ’s decision-making was that the birth of a child would ensure she would not have to return to school,” The Sun reported.
READ: Teen mom expresses sincere gratitude for the pro-life pregnancy center that helped her choose life
Arbuthnot said the girl “lacked the intellectual development and capacity to process the complexity of the decisions that had to be made and her emotional investment in one outcome was clearly clouding her judgment.”
Relying on the determination by the health board, the judge also pointed out that the physical risks incurred by AZ’s pregnancy were significant when considering “the size of AZ’s anatomy.”
“Her body may be just too small to give birth other than by a caesarean,” she said, adding that the “experience would be likely to traumatize her.”
She apparently did not note the potential trauma after an abortion.
Pro-lifers point out that the deliberate killing of a preborn baby is never medically necessary, preborn babies are not at fault for the conditions of their conception, and that ending the life of a baby conceived through rape can trigger additional trauma for already traumatized rape victims.
“Though it is undoubtedly clear that an 11-year-old does not have the ability to make such serious decisions, AZ’s mother was willing to support her daughter in her decision,” Cassy Fiano-Chesser wrote Wednesday for Live Action.
“Furthermore, if a child does not have the maturity to decide to keep a child, they don’t have the maturity to decide to kill one either,” Fiano-Chesser observed.
Ultimately, AZ reportedly agreed to ending the life of her baby, though the judge said she’s concerned the child will become pregnant again after the abortion.
“The mother made the telling point to the social worker that there was a risk that if AZ’s pregnancy was terminated, she would just go out and become pregnant again,” Arbuthnot said, according to The Sun, noting that no recommendation has been made from the health board to force AZ to be implanted with birth control.
“For some reason, the parents do not appear to be able to prevent this,” the judge said.
“Apparently, talk of bodily autonomy does not apply when a court chooses to end the life of an innocent child over his or her mother’s will, subjecting the mother – a survivor of rape – to yet another violation of her own body,” Fiano-Chesser wrote.
Authorities plan to use tissue from the dead baby to investigate the rape allegations against the 14-year-old boy, who has denied involvement with the girl.
READ: She conceived in rape at 13, but was excited for a baby – then the worst happened
AZ’s tragic story is far from the first in which a U.K. court has handed down a pro-death order against the wishes of the victims or their parents.
Last month, a conscious 19-year-old died after being denied life-saving treatment by a judge who considered her “delusional” for wanting to fight for her life, LifeSiteNews reported.
In 2017, 11-month-old British baby Charlie Gard died after his parents fought an extensive legal battle against hospital bureaucrats and government officials in an effort to transport him to a U.S. hospital for experimental treatment. Ultimately, Charlie’s parents lost their fight and the little boy passed away after being removed from his ventilator.