Thursday, August 01, 2013

Chilean 11-yr-old rape victim turns tables on abortion activists

Rebecca Oas, Ph.D. and Wendy Wright, "Abortion Activists Overplay Hand on Chilean 'Hard Case'” (C-FAM, July 26, 2013):
NEW YORK, July 26 (C-FAM) An 11-year old rape victim has unexpectedly turned the tables on the international abortion lobby as it seeks to use her plight to overturn Chile’s pro-life laws.

The girl, known as Belén, is pregnant after several years of sexual abuse by her mother’s boyfriend who threatened her to keep silent. Unlike other "hard cases" where abortion groups speak for hidden victims, Belén took her case to the media. She disputed her mother’s claim that the sex was consensual, and stated she wants her baby.

“I am going to love it very much regardless of whether it comes from that man who hurt me," she said.

Even so, abortion activists continue to use her as a rallying cry. Amnesty International, one of several groups joined in a "strategic litigation" campaign to exploit rape and difficult pregnancies to roll back pro-life laws in Latin America, responded to Belén's situation by saying that criminalizing abortion “constitutes a breach of international human rights law.” Going beyond the hard case of rape, Amnesty told Chile “to comply with their international obligations […] including the option of safe, accessible and legal abortion services.”
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[Hat tip to E. Echeverria]

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