10-year-old's pregnancy fuels Mexican abortion debate [View All]

10-year-old's pregnancy fuels Mexican abortion debate

By the CNN Wire Staff
April 19, 2010 10:18 p.m. EDT

Mexico's abortion debate became particularly heated in 2007, when Mexico City passed a law legalizing abortion.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Girl, 10, has been pregnant too long to have a legal abortion in her state, Quintana Roo
Groups allege state didn't inform her of her abortion rights
Stepfather is accused of raping the girl
Groups call for federal officials and the U.N. to investigate the state's handling of the case

Mexico City, Mexico (CNN) -- A pregnant 10-year-old, allegedly raped by her stepfather, has become the latest lightning rod in the country's heated abortion debate.

The girl's stepfather has been arrested. But advocates on both sides of the issue say their battle is just beginning.

"This girl is much more than an isolated case," said Adriana Ortiz-Ortega, a researcher at Mexico's National Autonomous University who has written two books on abortion in Mexico, "and there is much more influence now from conservative groups that are trying to prevent the legalization of abortion."

Abortion is legal in Mexico's capital city, but prohibited or significantly restricted in most of the country's states. The girl's home state of Quintana Roo, on the Yucatan peninsula, allows abortion in cases of rape during the first 90 days of the pregnancy. But the 10-year-old girl is at 17½ weeks, nearly a month past that limit.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/04/19/mexico.abortion/index.html?iref=obnetwork