Afghanistan Girl a Victim of Brutal Forced Abortion, Now in Critical Condition

From http://lifenews.com/int1042.html

Afghanistan Girl a Victim of Brutal Forced Abortion, Now in Critical Condition

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 9, 2009

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Kabul, Aghanistan (LifeNews.com) -- The brother and mother of a teenager in Afghanistan will likely face charges resulting from a brutal forced abortion case that is making international headlines today. The situation involves a 14-year-old girl whose brother cut open her stomach with a razor blade to take her unborn child.

The teenager was reportedly a victim of rape and her brother, who apparently was opposed to her giving birth to the child, took the situation into his own hands.

He used the blade to cut open his sister's stomach and he removed the unborn baby and buried the child alive. He then used a thick string normally used to close sacks of potatoes to close the incision.

The teen was five months pregnant at the time of the abortion, which was done nine days ago and without anesthesia. She was said to have been held down in a cattle shed during the abortion.

According to an AP report, he has confessed to the forced abortion and said he acted alone, although there is suspicion by authorities that the girl's mother was involved as well. However, she has not yet been apprehended by police because she is in a remote part of the country.

AP indicates the girl was taken to the military hospital at Bagram Air Base and was listed in critical condition on Friday with a severe infection at the site of the incision.

The brother, whose name is Ali, told AP that he regrets his actions.

"I had thought it was simple,'' he said of the attempt to do the abortion on his sister. He said his mother opposed the abortion but did nothing to stop it. Local officials believe she was involved and that Ali is covering up her actions.

Abortion is illegal in Afghanistan, a Muslim nation, unless the life of the mother is directly threatened by the pregnancy. Because the nation has strong feelings against sex outside of marriage, some people resort to drastic measures to hide rape or a pregnancy resulting from it.

That appeared to be the motivation for the abortion, Ali told AP.

"I told my sister that this was bad for us, for our family, and bad for the community," he said.

The girl reportedly said she blacked out during the crude operation but was able to see her brother hold up the baby after remove the child from her body.

Officials say they have recovered the body of the baby and believe they have the rapist in custody.

The girl was taken to the military hospital because local health clinics didn't have the right equipment to care for the damage done to her internal organs.


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