This girl has been betrayed and victimized twice: first, allegedly by the stepfather, but second, by those in the legal and medical professions whom she thought she could trust. Now childless, she will live the rest of her life wondering what her babies would have looked like, how old they would have been, whether their death is on her hands. I don’t blame her, because she is too young to understand such monumental ramifications. The problem with passing off abortion as such an easy and accessible alternative is that we are responding to one crime of violence with another. And while many rape victims survive to begin the healing process, sadly, most abortion victims don’t.

How insane for the church to voice any objections to this CHILD having an abortion! Have we not made any headway at all? I am pro choice regardless but in this tragic instance its truly a no-brainer. This clearly shows how ridiculous the catholic church has become. They are already a parody of themselves with their own issues regarding the sexual promiscuity of their so-called priests over the years; they have no voice in this matter and the absolute right decision was made.

I am 110% opposed to abortion as it exists in the US. I am beyond dismayed at the current administrations war on neo natal life. Brazil took this as a specific case, and who would deny saving this little girl from what her body could not bear? This is a tragedy for the child and her family, not a whole sale abortion issue.

This is a horrible story that makes me sick to my stomach. Anyone that criticizes this child and her guardian (whoever that may be) for their decision should be ashamed of themselves. Although I strongly feel that abortion is wrong, I do believe some cases are exceptions. My heart aches for her….please don’t make this any worse for her than it already is.

I am 110% opposed to abortion as it exists in the US. I am beyond dismayed at the current administrations war on fetal life. However that said, who would deny saving this child from what her body cannot bear? Dr. Manny is right, this is a tragedy. A tragedy for the child and her family. This a child protection issue, not a whole sale abortion issue.

Yes, this is a tragedy all around. Children do need to be protected!

The stepfather is disgusting and needs severe punishment. I can’t understand a mother that remarries a man (if you can call him that), but has no clue what is going on or what he is about. My heart goes out to the little girl. He has destroyed her whole life. Maybe the church needs to go after him and leave her alone. They are attackiing the wrong person.

God Bless all of those dear children. What that man did is pure evil.

Bless this child! How could someone do this to an inocent child! We need to pray for this child to recover from this tragedy. How could a 9 Year old girl ever recover?

So I’m confused….do you support or condemn the abortion?

I have always been pro-life and I truly believe that abortion is used as a form of birth control in this country. However, this pregnancy clearly put this young girl in danger. Abortion was the unfortunate but correct decision in this case and the Catholic church has a greater responsibility to protect and support the child that was victimized than to protect the unborn fetuses. It only saddens me that such a young and innocent person would have to face something so tragic and grave.

All countries need to be much harsher on men who rape and or kill children or women!!! A rapist needs to be castrated and put in prison for the rest of his life and a murderer needs to spend a few months on death row then lose their life the same way they took their victims life!!!!! I’m sorry if I sound heartless but where was the perpetrator’s heart for his victim????? They need to take responsibility for THEIR actions!!! Where was the victims rights when they were being raped and/or killed???

This is without doubt a tragedy in all respects. Despite my fervent view that life begins at conception, this is essentially no different from ending a pregnancy for other immediate threat-to-the-life the mother reasons. One does not hesitate to terminate an ectopic pregnancy, which in most instances poses an immediate threat to the life of both mother and child, despite rare instances of extra-uterine pregnancies being carried to term. Just because these occasionally result in live birth and maternal survival, the Church does not condemn these terminations. Such should be the case in this instance. A 9 year old girl is physically incapable of carrying a pregnancy, and abortion in this case, while tragic, is a necessary life-saving procedure for this poor child.

I am not militant anti-abortion and this story is a good example.
I do, however, believe abortion should NOT be used as birth control, but that is a different issue.

The stepfather/rapist in this case needs a bullet in the head.

i cannot even fathom a 9 yr old having a baby much less twins. for the church to say she should have had these babies is obsurd!! does a 9 yr old child even get her period?!? the stepfather really needs to be locked up forever. what right does he have to take a 9 yr old’s innocence and damage her body like that? SICK, SICK, SICK!!!!! i feel so sorry for this girl who had to go through an abortion. she probably doesn’t even know what pregnancy and abortion mean for crying out loud. this girl is going to be extremely troubled when she gets older. i highly suggest she get into therapy/counseling ASAP along with the mother who apparently wasn’t taking proper care of her child. if this ever happened to my daughter that man would have his balls chopped off and shoved down his throat. what the hell is wrong with people? this man is a predator and needs to be castrated (sp?). UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!

This is one of the most tragic stories I have ever heard. In my opinion the worst is the response from the church. I can’t imagine that God would want this child to carry these children to term. This pregnancy was not a gift from God it was an evil from the Devil. This person who raped this little girl was not acting in love to conceive a child of God but was acting on behalf of the Devil to create evil. Anybody who thinks this pregnancy was gift from God and should have been allowed to go to term should be ashamed.

Most of us who oppose abortion do so on the grounds that we consider it to be murder, the taking of a genuine human life. However, there are times when the taking of a human life is permissable. I believe this abortion falls into that category.

This abortion was, in two short words, “Justifiable Homocide”.

I’m usually against abortion, but I honestly don’t see where this little girl had much of a choice. Her life and health was in serious danger from this pregnancy. Even with a single pregnancy it would have been beyond just risky, but with twins, she would have probably died, or at BEST suffered serious physical injuries.

This is one of those rare cases where an abortion was VERY necessary.

I, too, believe that the way abortion is viewed in the United States is absolutely inexuscable, and I believe someday soon we will look back in disbelief at the way we indiscriminately allowed the killing of infants. Nonetheless, I cannot imagine that a nine-year old is capable of carrying twins. If ever – EVER – there were a case that was an exception, this is it.

And, yes, I would pull the switch on the stepfather. He has forfeited his future.

Unfortunately, this child will become the poster child for why abortion is right and moral and ethical rather than becoming the face for the cause of preventing the vicitmization and exploitation of children in her situation. And using a child’s trauma to forward your own beliefs is also victimizing and exploiting them, in my opinion.

The church’s involvement in this matter is crazy. Anyone approaching this young girl that makes her feel ashamed or punished by God for an abortion is crazy. God had nothing to do with the pregnancy. Sin was in the step father, his thoughts.. his actions. His sin caused the rape to happen & the eggs to become fertilized NOT GOD, and the step father should be punished. In Bible times, he would have been stoned to death. More than likely, had the pregnancy continued, the fetes’ would have been lost– but you know what? IT IS HER BODY AND HER CHOICE with what she allows to take place inside it. God will read her heart condition in the spiritual sense and shame on the church– aren’t they kept busy enough with protecting the priestly pedophiles than to be so worried about his young girl and her soul? Leave her alone and I hope their is a wonderful advocate for her to lean on in her time of need.

Can’t believe anyone in their right mind would criticize an abortion in this case? The girl was raped by a predator and is definately not old enough or mature enough to make a decision regarding having these future children. Even if she weren’t only 80lbs, even if she had a body that could sustain it, she is a child!

Becoming a mother at 17 and having a daughter who also became a mother at the same age, I know what it is like to have to make that choice. In both of our cases, we chose life but it was not an easy choice in any way. I am a Christian and very pro-life but I too, along with the majority of the readers, believe that it is a greater sin to put the child through childbirth and having to give up the children than going through the abortion. One thing most people don’t realize is that having a child at an early age can cause back and hip problems when we get older as we are both now experiencing. The Church is supposed to be a representative of Christ. I believe that His response would be to love the child and support her, while being sad at the loss of life. There really is no other choice in this situation other than the one made. And yes, I too agree the step-father needs a very, very harsh response to the crime.

I don’t think “The Church” can decide what is right or wrong in this matter. I believe our Heavenly Father has more compassion than “The Church.” He is the only One who can judge hearts. His thinking is on a much Higher Level than our poor earthly bodies and a flawed church.

The Catholic Church has always stood for human life. That ignorant, immoral, putrid step father is still a human life. He is the one that should be punished, not the girl, who underwent two rapes ( do any of you know what an abortion is and how it is performed?), and not the two innocent lives within her womb. The girl should have been taken care of and loved and provided total support in whatever needs she had. That is what the Church stands for. And those babies should have been given life and taken care of and loved, if they had lived, likely in this case in the bosom of an adoption family. When you remove the committment to life, you remove the compassion and the acts of God that turn things like this around. There are books full of stories of just such things. Anybody ever read the life of St Maria Gorretti?

brazil can kiss my ass. this little girl has already went through enough trama of being raped in the first place. the scars will last an eternity. i know this first hand. i pray she is strong and over comes all of this. god bless the people who gave her the abortion.to hell with the good ol book.

There HAS TO BE an age limit on abortion! 9 years old is too young to have an abortion, she should have let those twins get born prematurely and possibly ruin her ability to have children in the future, if that sounds harsh, she should have thought about that before getting raped.

You people who think she was wrong to abort a rapist’s children make me sick. In the bible it says the penalty for rape should be marrying the victim, if you’re going to stand by your religion as a moral compass, why don’t I hear that solution offered?

Where do i begin…….. This is a sad story. We live in a world today where everything good is considered bad and bad things are considered good. I am a born again christian and although i respect the right of other people to voice their religious beliefs in this case, the church is wrong. I believe that it angers God and greives the Holy Spirit when children are attacked whether it be mentally or physically. Asking that child to carry a baby in her womb is like asking a man to have a baby period!!!!!! The church need to top tryin to govern people’s lives by using The Law as the Bible is regularly called. The real issue is that a little girl who could not protect herself was brutally attacked. Speaking as a victim of sexual assault, i know that this child can overcome and heal, but it will take time and prayer. I also agree with Anon to the letter. Let’s keep this child in our prayers.

Anon – the act of rape was evil, not the children concieved. Anyhow, what I’d like to say, is that I am completely pro-life. 100%….BUT in this instance, I don’t think the child would be able to survive the pregnancy – emotionally or physically. She is still a baby. And the children she conceived would probably not have made it to term. If this were my child, well, I can’t even imagine letting my 9 year old daughter carry a pregnancy created by rape. Not to mention that a twin pregnancy is risky even for adults.

My issue is that the church is so worried about the two unborn children, but medically they may have died and so could the young mother who had no choice in the matter. She is a victum and the church is making her a victum again their statements. This child deserved to have a chance to live and she shouldn’t be judged nor should anyone that supported the decision for her not to be further punished for the gross things this guy did to her. This wasn’t a gift from God she is a small child and deserves the right to some piece in life also.

God has no business in this discussion.

This girl is scarred for life, the fact that she had an abortion should not even be worth mentioning.

Ben, you are an idiot. You are not a woman and therefore should not be voicing your opinion about how this little girl would feel. You don’t have a clue. Carrying these children to term would have destroyed her. She doesn’t even understand what has happened and to say that “Now childless, she will live the rest of her life wondering what her babies would have looked like, how old they would have been, whether their death is on her hands.”

You’re an idiot and don’t deserve a voice here. What happened to her was pure evil and for you to say that the medical profession failed her…SHUT UP!!!!

When you can squeeze a child out of you, you can have voice until then, SHUT UP!!!

The mother is to blame for this.. Most of the time in cases similar to this, the mother knew what is going on but refused to protect her young daughter. These mothers are so desperated to keep the man that they just turn the other way. They sometimes force their young daughters to have sex with their new boyfriend or husband. This girl will get rape again as long as she still live with her mother. There is no protection for this little girl. She is IT, unless she is taken away from her mom.

I find all these people spouting God and Devil rather ignorant. Take your Myths out of the picture. How does one seriously expect a 9 year old to carry to term twins?

Ok “Ben”, I’m going to venture a guess that you’ve been neither raped nor had an abortion. I’m not sure who the abortion “victim” is you are referring to, perhaps the aborted fetus, which you are correct, does not survive. You cannot, certainly as a man, compare abortion and rape. Despite your personal opinions on abortion, it’s still legal in this country and thankfully it’s still a woman’s choice. Rape is not and you cannot compare the two. I know many woman for whom abortion was the best choice for them at that particular time in their lives. Should it be used as birth control, absolutely not, and I highly doubt that it is for most. We all should know how one gets pregnant, and unfortunately, people make mistakes, but for most who have had an abortion, they would tell you later that they still made the right choice. In regards to this tragic story of this 9 year old, anyone that thinks that the decision to save her life over the life of a fetus was wrong is sick.

so, what you are saying dr manny is that the abortion was needed and that was the right thing to do. i totally disagree. abortion is murder and never the right thing to do! my belief!

Dave you are a moron and you should be shot.

I do not support abortion like most american women do. I believe that as long as you can hear the baby heart beat, there’s a life inside the womb and should not be killed for convenience. Most americans killed their babies for convenience and that’s wrong. However, I do believe that rape victims should be allowed to abort their child. They already suffer so much from the odeal, they don’t need to have the child as a reminder. And having the child will be a reminder for the rest of her life. In this little girl’s case, abortion is the correct route. I can not imagine her carrying the babies to full term. I have four children and I understand what a woman went though during pregnancy.

I’m against casual abortion but in this case I’m glad they rid of the babies. She doesn’t need the babies to be a reminder of what happened to her.

So if a commenter can’t be a man, then Dr. Manny probably shouldn’t be allowed to write this column either? Absurd. All humans have a say about right and wrong. Exception cases are what got this world into abortion on demand as birth control.

This child is being exploited by two sides in a political debate. Anon, you should be ashamed. And so should anyone else that uses such an outlier to make a case about anything. There are good people who believe the decision that was made was correct and good people who believe the child is doubly harmed by a procedure she can’t possibly comprehend or make judgments about.

Few of those good people are represented in the comments above.

To all the religious anti-abortion folks in this thread, perhaps you could direct some of your self-righteous indignation to the one responsible for the ~20-30% of pregnancies ending in spontaneous abortion. Go ahead and assert your convoluted and irrational excuses for why the one who demands an end to abortion allows so many to occur naturally. Is it apathy or impotence preventing the required intervention? Talk about moral relativism…

Put you in her place. You are a tiny 9 years old girl. Been raped and pregnant with twins. I assume this little girl is very poor and live in a smaill village. What do you think is best for you if you were her?

There’s nothing more annoying than some woman ranitng about how men have no say in abortion issues. Yes, the woman carries the baby, but having an abortion shouldn’t be just HER decision. In the case of the nine year old and some rape victims, there are some exceptions, but telling a male to “shut up” is just plain stupid and immature. Men have equal say in the matter too. I agree with Ben, however I will not judge the nine year old. Her case is an exception and whatever decision was made I just hope it was for the best. And saying children conceived by rape are “evil gifts from the devil”, well anyone who thinks that are no better than the rapist themselves. I knew a child conceived by a rape and he turned out to be a great person! Babies are precious no matter how they are conceived, it just sad the circumstances of how some are created. I don’t agree with abortion myself, but when someone gets an abortion that’s their business, but this is not strictly a woman’s issue.

I am totally against abortion. But from a practical standpoint, the twins would have killed the child carrying them, in addition to the unborn themselves. I can understand the church’s standpoint on the abortion; however, all three lives would have ended if an abortion had not been performed. Kill the father, he forfeited his right to life when he raped this girl. Give the child any and all care that she may need to be able to cope with this monstrous misfortune. Scrutinize the mother; how could she not sense something happening to her child? And tell the church to lighten up on her.

Koballt10

Thank goodness this child was able to have an abortion! what a tragic thing it would be for this young girl to be burdened by children – from her stepfather.
The Catholic church is so out of touch with these issues.
Obviously, all these people who do not support abortion are the same people who do not step up to help a child like this raise her children. This is exactly what happens in america – the right to lifers oppose abortion, but they are not the ones who eventually raise the products of rape, incest, etc.
I believe abortion is a woman’s choice. No, it ought not be used for birth control. But ultimately, it’s OUR bodies, and religion has no right to dictate what we do withour body.
This is a separation of church and state issue.
The church can recommend to it’s followers, even punish those congregates who go against thier church.
But for those of us who do not follow organized religion, why should we be held hostage by something we do not believe in?
And, what about people of different faiths?
What gives the Catholic church such arrogance that they could decide for everyone?
I reject this philosophy.
And Dr. Manny, shame on you for not presenting both sides of the argument.

I feel that abortion is totally wrong. and i feel this little girl needs everybody’s support and understanding. the people as a whole needs to stop judging and start caring. and the church, needs to be supportive as well. Jesus says, for all the little children come unto me. and he will give you rest. Jesus also loved us for who we are. not for what we have done. He is a forgiving God, and let him do the judging.

Would anyone agree that, in order to spare the young girl the trauma of being reminded of the rape, the twins ought to be killed after birth? I didn’t think so (at least I hope not). So why then do we accept that they should be killed before birth?

Because we fail to acknowledge that the child in the womb is just as valuable, just as much a person, as the newborn child.

In no way will killing those twins alleviate the trauma of the rape. Instead, this girl now has 2 traumas to deal with: the rape and the killing of her own children. Sad.

The children should have been allowed to grow to the point where they could survive outside the womb, delivered by caesarian and adopted out. That is a plan that all involved could have LIVED with.

The child absolutely HAD to have an abortion. I do not personally believe in abortion for anyone who is capable of carrying a child but in this case….duhhhhh. I think the step father should be charged with the rape PLUS 2 counts of murder. I mean after all it is essentially his fault the babies had to be aborted. Let him burn for it.

The girl may very well have died during her pregnancy/delivery… and then there would be 3 innocent children killed in this ordeal…..

Its not a “cut n dry” situation….

BUT now this girl needs support and love so that she may heal and move forward!

This is one of the saddest things that I have ever heard. This poor little girl; the physical and emotional pain that she must have experienced. This will forever change her. The Catholic Church needs to explain where God was when this little girl was getting raped. May this little girl get the help she needs and may her step father rot in prision. No one has the right to tell a female of any age that they must have a baby. CERTAINLY NOT IN THE CASE OF RAPE!!!

These are the consequences of sin. Not only did the rapist ruin the life of the nine year old but the action also ended the life of the unborn children.

I’m anti-abortionist. However, I would not expect a baby to have babies. A nine year old’s body cannot hold twins safely.

I don’t think that the nine year old will ever regret having an abortion. She was a baby herself, who this pediphile should get the death penalty for raping.

I want to know what the stepfather is being charged with and it better not be some BS charge of “child endangerment” either that he could walk from.

That being said abortion is a private matter. Putting this poor child through the media now on either side of the prochoice/prolife issue is disgusting.

Who in their right mind would expect a 9 year old 80 lb child to carry one baby to term muchless twins? She did not choose to be raped…she did not choose to be mistreated…she does not deserve to die trying to carrying fetuses that should never been inside of her body to begin with…most of all she does not deserve to be judged by any of you people. Would you expect your child to carry a baby if someone raped her? HELL NO!!! The point is that this is a 9 year old child!!!!! This is not a teenager or a woman that is fully grown…she is still a baby herself!!! I am 6 1/2 months pregnant with my second child and I am fully grown . I had a horrible time with my first pregnancy and this pregnancy has not been easy. I really can not understand people who would want to punish this child farther and try to force her tiny body to do something that it is not ready to do. Yes I feel sorry for the unborn children…I myself love children and do not agree with abortion except for in extreme cases like this where it is MEDICALLY NECESSARY!!!!!!

She is a child 9 years old she should not have to have the baby(ies). South American countries are poor enough how would a 9 year old go about raising a child. The GOVT did the right thing. Remeber that GOD forgives children and she is still a child……

Hey mom in kansas – yes I do know what it is and how it is performed. Do YOU?

As we learn about this incident, let us PLEASE remember the atrocities committed against thousands of girls and women each day in Darfur and other areas. Let us work together as a world community to help.

Common sense, to me, indicates the stepfather should be publicly stoned or, at a minimum, horse whipped for what he did, then castrated…hell, I’d go for the stoning or whipping immediately after the castration. However, as a Catholic, I think my own church leadership should have its head examined for even condemning this abortion, or abortion in general. Based on what I’ve read, these fetuses most likely would not have survived, and the mother’s (a kid herself) life could very well have been in jeopardy. I personally am in favor of abortion – hell, we have too many people to feed right now. If my own religion would get its head out of the sand and stop condemning safe-sex practices, we would most likely not have the population problems we currently have, and there would be a reduction in STDs. Nuff said.

Dave-
Are you serious? “She should have thought about that before she got raped?”

Absolutely incredible. So what exactly did you want her to think? That she didn’t want to be raped? That at nine years old there was some way for her to overpower her attacker?

You are an idiot.

Ben is an utter fool and Dave is in serious need of psychiatric intervention. I guess the abortion topic brings all the nuts out, eh.

I was appalled when I read this story. I nearly cried when realized the trauma this child has suffered. Then, another trauma, the pregnancy, was added to cause this yound girl even more pain. The government of Brazil was absolutely correct in performing an abortion on this child. Regardless of your faith, the health and safety of the victim should prevail! The Catholic Church has failed many girls and women because of their policy. There is a time and place for such procedures. Their outcry over saving this girl’s life and future is ridiculous. The fact that they can’t see nor understand a 9 year old girl, an elementary school age child, shouldn’t be forced to experience a pregnancy of 2 babies or become a parent merely shows how far in the dark ages the Catholic Church still is. If teen pregnancies are considered high risk then certainly a 9 year old girl carrying twins is even more so. This also shows how little respect the Church gives to women and children. They try to protect the unborn; why can’t they try to protect those already here and suffering. There is a moral wrongness in the Catholic Church on this issue. This is just one more in a list where the Catholic Church doesn’t protect it’s precious children. And no amount of couseling can fix situations like this. No amount of support can remedy a situation like this. (Sorry Sarah and Pope Benedict). The government of Brazil did the right thing. Period.

I’m in total agreement with Samantha!!! I can only hope that this moron named Dave has no kids. Dave wrote: ” she should have let those twins get born prematurely” Are you for real??? Please get some help, or just shut the hell up!

Jolie, most American women do not support abortion. Most American women support pro-CHOICE. Jolie, get your facts straight.

This whole situation is tragic for this little girl, but the right choice was made for her here. This whole Catholic Church committment to life thing doesn’t fly in this situation when this little girl’s stepfather repeatly raped her!

Regarding Ben’s post on March 4th, 2009 at 4:11 pm, get a grip buddy. This girl was victimized by one person and one person only … the stepfather. The medical professionals who took part in relieving this 9-year old child from the pain of having to bear twins to full term did not victimize her at all, but instead most likely saved her life. I also find it ironic over and over again how men tend to be to the most ardent pro-lifers, as if they ever have to go through something so physically and emotionally painful as abortion. Personally, I don’t care for abortion and am very much against it being used as a form of birth control, but I also understand that noone should have the right, including government, to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body. The choice is hers to make and the woman is the one who must bear the burden of that decision for the rest of her life.

And as for the Comment by Dave March 4th, 2009 at 5:47 pm. Does the word idiot describe you sufficiently? What kind of moron blames a 9-YEAR OLD for being raped by an adult male? I’m sure if she had a choice in the matter she would have chosen to play with her dolls instead. And where the hell does it state in the Bible that the penalty for rape is marrying the victim? Give me a break. Maybe it says that in the Koran but I highly doubt that it states that anywhere in the Bible. I’m sure not too many rape victims out there would actually want to marry the perpetrator of the crime.

You can’t make good things happen by performing an evil deed. If killing an innocent human life is wrong, you can’t make another thing right by committing a murder. One child was scarred once by the atrocity of rape, then was scarred again by having two innocent children murdered inside of her.

With medical technology, the children could have been born prematurely before the danger was critical and had an attempt made to save their lives. It’s sad that people seem to think that these two now dead children were some sort of demons and not the innocent lives they were. You don’t kill the innocent to punish the guilty (stepfather).

If either or both of these kids would have lived, in the future the little girl could see that some good came out of such a horrible thing, and that two lives entered the world. Now in addition to the pain of the rape, the pain of knowing that these children were killed inside her instead of trying what we could to save them will be with her as well. There could have been the joy of two new lives, and now there is just death to go with it as well.

It’s amazing that people want to blame anyone for having a clear view that wrong is wrong no matter how you want to coat it. These same people want to victimize a little girl twice to push their pro-abortion agenda, and spread the lie that killing another person can make a bad thing “go away”. This girl is now a mother, but of two dead children. You can’t make it “go away”.

Robyn,

you represent everything that is wrong with this country. You disgust me.

“Now childless, she will live the rest of her life wondering what her babies would have looked like, how old they would have been, whether their death is on her hands.”

I would rather wonder what they looked like than to sit there and look at the FACES of the man who brutally and sadistically raped me. We are talking the REST OF YOUR LIFE.

Ben are you saying you would allow your 9 year old daughter to have twins even though it could kill her? lets see….KILL the 9 yr old, or abort the unborn children.

EASY DECISION….

go read your bible…. I think there’s a passage there that reads…

“thou shalt not judge others before me”

Churches? Please read the bible before you speak out hatred to your people….Follow what the Lord told you. It is NOT your place to pass judgement. And any who do will face GOD in their final days. Hopefully you will ask for forgiveness for being a sinner and passing judgement on 9 yr olds.

Ben,
Do you really think a 9 year old girl will dream about what her babies would have looked like or if she was responsible when she grows up? I just can’t see that happening. It is clear that you have never been around young children. I work in an elementary school. She will more likely have nightmares about the abuse from her stepfather.

Bravo for the judge in this case who went agains what is probably his own belief and allowed this child to have a needed medical procedure. This was not a pregnancy developed from inadequate birth control. This was not an abortion for birth control. This was a medically necessary procedure to save the life of a CHILD…that of the pregnany NINE YEAR OLD girl. I was born and raised a Catholic and still practice from time to time. I have always differed with the Catholic church on this issue.
As a RN who has both assisted in abortion procedure (including second trimester procedures), taken care of these women post procedure, and who has had an abortion myself I know this is not a decision made lightly.
This “father” should be tortured…to death even…for taking the youth of this child away. For causing her physical and psychological harm.
I can only pray that the 9y/o girl is young enough to put all of this behind her and lead a normal and productive life.

Dave, you sound like a pedophile, of course you would defend the rapist. If I was your wife or daughter, I would be ashamed of you..let’s hope you’re not married or spawned any children.

DAVE, you really are a moron. This is a little girl and a baby herself, who had no idea what rape was, so how could she think that maybe I shouldn’t have an abortion at nine, before I get raped. This child should be thinking of innocence and playing with dolls at nine. I am not for abortion, but I am also open minded and in this situation this child’s life needed to be saved. This is when the catholic church should embrace her and accept the terms of saving her young life, not judging. If we want to judge then we should go after the priests that preyed on young victims just like the step dad. FOR SHAME…Sometimes people get so caught up in hiding behind their religion. This little girl needs lots of prayers,counciling,and an outpouring of love.

I am a woman and I am diametrically opposed to abortion. I think it is unforgivable the way abortion is used in this country, as birth control.

However in this case the child could not have carried twins, it would have likely killed her and the babies. Her body just isn’t developed enough. In addition she is not old enough to decide to risk a life-threatening pregnancy as an adult could, and was in no way responsible for getting pregnant. This is not unlike an ectopic pregnancy that will likely kill both mother and child. It is a case of holding three lives in your hands if you don’t act all three are dead if you do act two. It is terrible that the little babies died and I cry for them, but I am glad the little girl didn’t.

The Stepfather should be tossed into jail for the remained of his miserable life it is he who caused the tragedy on the child and those babies not the girl or her doctors.

I consider it disgusting that a church would condem this little girl for aborting twins that would more than likely kill her or do permanent medical harm. It is pathetic to think that religious groups such as this one have vast ammounts of power in the world. Let go of ignorance..fight for what is wright instead of what a compelation of fairy tails says that you should believe.

My response is to Dave. How dare you say she should have thought about this before she was raped. How does a 9 year old defend herself against someone like this? She didn’t choose to get raped by this pervert she was violated. I would like to see what you would do in a situation like what she was put in. I bet you couldn’t handle it. This is a tragic story and for people like you to make a comment like that is insane. I bet you would be the first to complain of having to pay for those premature twins with tax payers money. Why should she have to risk not having children in the future when it wasn’t even her decision to make in the first place. Words can not even express what I think about a person like you.

I agree that this girl has suffered both at the hands of her stepfather but also at the hands of people who are supposed to protect her. Taking away those children did not solve her problems but will in fact add to them later. How can two wrongs make this right?

Ikehoe,

You are very wise and your response should be an example of what the so called “good” Christians out there should be saying. Bless you and your family. Judge not, lest ye be judged. There are so many sayings that apply here…

Ben this is not about abortion. The pregnancy would have killed the young girl a child is not ment to have babies at such a young age and small size. Please grow up and get your head out of the clouds. If this world was perfect abortion wouldn’t be needed but in cases like this it proves that abortion is necessary.

I have declared that I am against abortion in any situation. I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, pro-choice. However, after reading this I have to rethink my decision, in this case. This child is a victim and her life most certainly have been in grave danger had this pregnancy been allowed to continue. I think if it were my grandchild I would have made the same decision to end the pregnancy. I feel nothing but compassion for this nine year old cchild and I believe God does, too. If I am wrong then I trust God will show me how my thoughts err.

Okay, Dave’s little comment is soooo wrong in all sorts of the word. Women do not ASK to be raped especially a child as young as this little girl. I know what it’s like to be young and be raped and I SURE didn’t ask for it. I believe that they were justified in aborting those babies only because there’s no way that a 9 year old little girl can carry a baby much less twins and all three of them live. She would have several complications during the delivery and she would be lucky to carry them even half way to term. A 9 year olds boby just isn’t made to carry that kind of burden. I am not pro-abortion at all, but I believe every case must be evaluated especially those of rape victims. Rape itself is a hard thing to cope with much less the thought of carrying the child of someone who violated your body like that. She deserves the chance to grow up and get married and have babies with a man who loves her and respects her body.

Reading both the story and some of these comments I was disgusted. How could anyone want a NINE-YEAR-OLD rape VICTIM to risk her LIFE and HEALTH? I can understand pro-lifers who view elective (non-medically necessary) abortions as ‘wrong’, i do not agree but can understand it. What I cannot, and doubt I ever will, understand is those ‘Pro-Lifers’ that would rather a woman NOT abort and possibly DIE instead. How is 2 deaths better than 1 (or in the case of the 9 year old, 3 deaths instead of 2)? How can anyone claim to be Pro-Life and yet advocate for 2 deaths over 1 simply so an abortions never happens?

I can completely understand why this child had an abortion, I can understand why MOST women have abortions. I don’t understand how Pro-Lifers can judge them in anyway seeing as they haven’t been in that exact same situation before.

I am anti-abortion. However, rape is the exception. A nine year-old—-seriously, a nine year-old girl raped and impregnated. That man needs to suffer a HUGE consequence. That is so wrong on so many levels. Any sick person who would rape a nine year-old, let alone rape anyone deserves to burn…I’m sorry, but they do. Like I said, I don’t approve of abortion, but the girl had every right. If she was sixteen, I’d be a little bit more, I don’t know, against it. But at nine, a baby, let alone twins, is too much, especially if she wasn’t stupid enough to go out and get pregnant. A lot of twelve year-olds in the US are getting pregnant because they were promiscuous, which is when I think abortion is WRONG! Rape is a different story. I hope the little girl recovers, even though she will have those horrors for the rest of her life. She’s going to have a hard time trusting again, which is sad. Why ruin a nine year-olds life for your own pleasure?

God Bless her!

A little girl is raped by her stepfather and gets pregnant by him. This tiny child was hurt, her sense of safety shattered when this monster attacked her. To force this child to carry this burden placed on her shoulders by an evil man is an act of injustice. I hate abortion, but forcing a tiny girl to go through a pregnancy she was never even meant for in such an early stage in her life is emotionally and physically devastating. She is offered a chance to live as a child again, to not go through another traumatic experience such as childbirth at such a young age. Give her back her childhood, I say. Let her grow up and move on.

I am pro-live but that poor child could die from one child, least of all twins. She needs to be protected and Brazil did the right thing for to allow the procedure. She will need councling and understanding. I will pray for her.

Question…if you are pro-life, but in this situation believe that an abortion is justified, doesn’t that make you pro-choice? That is my issue. Though I value the sanctity of human life, I do believe that certain situations (i.e. rape, mother’s life, etc…) can call for exceptions. As a result, I support pro-choice policies. I just believe the pro-life stance is too black and white. Once in a blue moon a “gray” situation comes along, and the pro-life position should not be dictated. I guess I ultimately belive that God will be the final judge.

Wow, all you people calling me crazy because you can’t tell an incredibly obvious sarcastic statement when you read it, no wonder you read Foxnews. Did you even read the second paragraph? The one that clearly shows the above was making fun of the anti-abortion-in-cases-of-rape crowd. Honestly, amazing guys, great job

Oh and Joe B, why don’t you try cracking open the Old Testament before taking wild guesses as to what it says

God bless that poor little girl! I just pray that God will give her the strength to recover physically. I also pray that she will be able to recover emotionally from all the trauma she has already endured.

Any of you know the story of the woman in the New Testament caught in the act of adultery? Jesus told the crowd that “you who are without sin, cast the first stone”. He then knelt on the ground and wrote in the sand. Everyone wanted to know what He wrote. That wasn’t the point. There was one person who could have thrown a stone that day and He did not! Instead He knelt (the lowest position of anyone there) and waited….Let’s put our stones down and remember this little girl in our prayers! God is a God of grace and mercy and we should pray for both of these to envelope this little girl! I too am pro-life and in this case I am for the life of this little girl traumatized beyond anything we can imagine. You can be certain that if God is writing in the sand, there are tears mingled in.

Come on, everybody. Dave was being SARCASTIC. I can’t believe that isn’t obvious to everyone, particularly when he mentioned that the bible says you should marry your rapist. Sheesh.

I, too, am 100% against abortion but this is NOT an abortion issue, actually. This is about the health and welfare of a 9 year old little girl. If my 8 1/2 year old daughter were raped and impregnated, I believe that I, too, would have to make a medical decision for her welfare. This isn’t about “freedom of choice” and pro-life, except to say the life of the little girl was and probably still is (emotionally) at stake.

I have said many times, as a previous poster, child molesters should be forced to be castrated, period.

Blaming the Church for being out of touch on the subject of abortion is as stupid as it is to use this case to justify a pro-choice stance. There are some objective facts we can consider (1)human life beings at conception..sorry, if you don’t like that, you need to re-take high school biology (2) abortion destroys human life (3)a medical procedure intended to save the life of the mother by its primary action and happens to destroy human life as its secondary action in order to achieve the first is morally permissable. The Church does condemn aborion in cases of rape and incest, but this is a 9 year old child physically incapable of carrying a pregnancy, much less multiples. The Church missed the ball on this one, and it’s too bad, because any rational person can see the necessity of this procedure in this instance. It was simply a life-saving medical procedure in this instance, God knows it, and so do those babies.

when i was a small boy in the 1930’s there was a tiny child age 5 years old that was pregnant and actually did give birth to a baby boiy, both survuved if i remember right. so that about having their period they can get pregnant is not correct, this tiny girl was far youbger than this unfortunate young child. check it out, i believe she was and is the youngest mother in the world then and now. i think she was from Peru, but am not positive on that part.

seriously, I cannot believe that anyone-even god would expect a 9 year old girl to not only process rape, but carry out a pregnancy-which how could she 80 pounds? I don’t even know how this girl will even process being raped much less dealing with this publicly, shame, shame and more shame to all of those passing judgement. I myself am a Catholic but I am in no position to judge anyone’s decisions-religious, political, medical or any of the like. I hope those passing judgement on the health and well being of a 9 year old girl realize they too must meet their maker some day….My thoughts and prayers are with the mental and physical recovery of this very young victim, I pray god gives everyone the sense and well being to leave this girl alone.

Dave,
are you really insinuating that a 9 year old child could prevent a rape, much less a pregnancy by a rapist? wow…There is nothing I could say to affect or change the opinion of such ignorance.

This case makes my stomach churn. I’m generally opposed to abortion, however in this case it seems justified. This young girl likely would have experienced severe trauma to her 80 pound body. She might not have even survived the pregnancy/delivery. Now she needs to receive therapy to help her learn how to live a happy life. I hope and pray that she will be given the love and care that she deserves. I pray that she will be able to be a child. I hope that her evil stepfather will rot in jail.

People, have you forgotten scripture that shows we must emulate our Lord?

He was put to a shameful death. He was perfectly innocent. He was the son of God.
By His death we are saved.

We too are to carry our crosses, no matter how heavy they are. And yes, some of
us are called to die by those crosses.

For non-Christians that is absurd. But for Christians, especially Catholics, it is the
wisdom of God– that through our sufferings we allow Christ to be imprinted in our
hearts.

It is easy for those outside of the Church to criticize its response. Yet, it is speaking the
truth.

We all know the sadness and evil of our times. To prolong our life for all this world
has to offer… is that really true joy in happiness?

Or do we look with hope to heaven? We should. And to die young is not a tragedy if
we die in the Lord.

Have faith!

How is it possible that ANYONE can criticize an abortion in this case?? Really? She is a 9 year old girl, there are people who have posted on here saying that this CHILD should have carried her CHILDREN to term. Do any of you have any idea what that would have done to her body, to her psyche?? It’s sad that there are people that care more about “souls” than actual human beings. This child is going to need years of therapy to heal from this – and not from the abortion, but from the assault that a trusted adult perpetrated on her. That healing can begin now without her having to look down at her swollen body with a constant reminder of what was done to her. Add to that, does this child even understand what was done to her, does she even understand how she got pregnant, and does she even understand what being “pregnant” meant and what it means to actually give birth. I have a doubt it!

We are way to lenient on incest, rape, molestion, sexual assault and I’m goingto say the word, sodomy, which in itself is just animalistic. and dangerous .
In my state it is not against the law to commit incest, torture, or rape your own child.
The reason I’m saying this, is there is a certain person wo did it all, and he’s walking the streets, with full knowledge of the DA, counselors, child advocates, all knowing, and they know what he is capable of. And could care less.
I want to know why do they keep letting them loose, they go out and do even worse.
Is itthe goverment paycheck the lawyers get . Is it the goverment paycheck the judges, and courts get.
Because I guarantee the victims get nothing, but a death sentence for the rest of their lives.
Who has decided itts alright to kill a childs childhood, who has given these animals the right to destroy a childs only thing it has, purity.
I’m for stripping any person who touches a child for any reason other than to give ita full healthy life,
Hanging them on the courthouse steps and every mom dad, granny, sister, brother, aunt, uncle etc. be give a razor blade, to peel the skin off 1 inch at a time. Till dead.

For the record, I am 32 and unable to have children. I had to have a hysterectomy to save my life from type 4 endometrosis.

I think that this child having an abortion was the correct decion. I cannot even begin to imagine the horror this child was experiencing. Not only having been raped by a(presumably) trusted adult, but then becoming with child. I know that when I was that age I sorta knew where kids came from, but that had to be a shocking introduction to life. The worst thing that can happen now is for people to call her a sinner of the sin of becoming pregnant. Like it was her fault! She needs to be embraced, and treated like the child she is. That is with love and understanding.

I don’t even want to think about what would have happened to her if she had been forced to bear these children. They would have been a constant reminder of the pain that she was inflicted upon her. And no, adpotion would not have been an answer. Her body would have never lost the scars. Even now it never will.

We need to embrace this young girl, and allow her to be an innocent child.

People, we are thinking 9 year old straight as a stick 80 pound females. This little girl was able to become pregnant which means even though she weighs only 80 pounds, she was sexually mature, a small person who would most likely have small babies, right?

The little girl was violated, no doubt. That has nothing to do with the babies.

Since she was 15 weeks pregnant already, surely the doctors could have given her good medical care long enough for the babies to have been delivered prematurely, and adopted out if the little girl or her family couldn’t bear to look at them.

Killing the babies won’t make the memory of the abuse go away.

I am against abortion as birth control. Sherie on the view made the comment , “I’ve had so many abortions I’ve lost count,”
But due to the horrendous acts of incest and rape, and also the laws ,
If an incest or rape victim decides to go full term, and decides to keep child.
Most don’t realize, that the bio father has rights to shared custody, or in some cases can get full custody. And the courts encourage it. How socialist of them. Even if the bio father is in prison for the act. The courts from whatI have read, will not allow evidence of the contrary .
There was acase in Ore, o wash, and thecourts actually allowedthe bio father un supervised visits .
I f it had happened to me, I would abort immediately to save the child from being torture.d, With the permission of the law

I hope this creep of a step-father will never see the light of day. That is the only way this 9 year old will be safe. I hope the Catholic Church will give her safety if she needs it.

Crazy fundamentalists. I support abortion 100%. Get rid of that slurry abomination. Life begins at birth.

Dear Dr. Manny Alvarez,

Unfortunately this very sad story happened in my country, Brazil. As you made clear in your post, it was a risk situation for the very young girl and I believe that the best for her was done. I hope that situations like this never happen again in any place of the world. My best regards,

Alberto Lozéa

Alberto published a post on.. Welcome to Sexy Help Desk!

I think the best solution for the victims of this horrific tragedy would have been to surgically remove the unborn twins, implanting and adopting them to a mature woman wanting to carry them to term and be their mother. I don’t know if they could be frozen or even if this has been done this far along in prenatal development, but at least attempting it would have been better than deliberately destroying two innocent human lives that already have heatbeats, brain waves, and all organs present and functioning. Preemies just a few weeks older than these have survived.

Kids from the youngest age need to be spoken to very explicitly about protecting themselves from sexual predators who usually come in the guise of a trusted adult, all too often a family member. They need to be taught to report this immediately so this kind of horror doesn’t repeat.

This story is beyond horrifying and can not imagine anyone condeming a life-saving abortion performed on a 9 year old child any more than I can imagine someone condeming an abortion performed in a tubal pregnancy. They are both maternal-life threatening. I am not pro-abortion when it is used for birth control but “alreadydecided” made a statement that I think more people need to consider. You can be anti-abortion for almost all reasons, but the laws must keep some exceptions for these type of cases. If you watch some of the anti-abortion legislation that they are trying to pass in some states (Arizona for example), they are not keeping exceptions for rape, incest, maternal life in the wording. The wording might make an exception for tubal’s, but nothing else. So any other type of maternal life issue and the hospital/Dr is given the right to refuse treating the patient. Also, rape victims do not have to be offered emergency contraception/morning after pill. I think this is awful and people need to be more aware of the wordings in these bills and not be so quick to stand behind them if they are not worded correctly. There are exceptions that truly need to be kept in place. It may be infrequently that these exceptions have to be used, but if it is your daughter or wife who is dying or raped, you will be happy they are there and worded properly. P.S. I might be mistaken but I think Dave’s post was sarcastic considering his 1st line, 2nd paragraph.

What has the “church” said about the rapist/stepfather? No wonder that throughout time blame has been placed on women for sexual sins. The church can’t even focus on the real crime by not just the stepfather but by all who were supposed to protect this child. This child will be emotionally scared and traumitized regardless and I seriously doubt she will spend time worrying about what her children would have looked like at an age when she should be playing with dolls! When she is older, I imagine she’ll focus her concerns on those who placed her in jeopardy and failed to protect her thereby allowing her childhood to be stolen. Only a man would honestly beleive the child will entertain serious regrets about an abortion.This should not be a question that is even brought to public scrutiny. This is a medical and a legal issue not an ethical one.

Matthew 7:1-2

1. “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.” 2. “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”

I feel sorrow for the child at the center of this controversy; no child should be so badly abused. The decision that the government and her mother had to make was necessary to protect and preserve the life of a 9 year old girl. I believe it was the right decision. My own child was raped when she was 13 years old; I thank God that she did not become pregnant and we were never faced with such a terrible decision.

would the church object if the father had been her priest?

At least one fact can be said about the Church: it is consistent in its teaching, unlike our politicians, those who criticize the Church, and anyone else. At least we know where the Church stands. At least there is no gray area, it is black and white. I feel bad for the girl, and it is an awful case, but abortion is not justified.

Attention from everybody giving Dave such a hard time!!! He was being BITTERLY SARCASTIC! The clue to his true feelings is the 1st sentence of his 2nd paragraph,which states,”You people who think she was wrong to abort the rapist’s children make me sick.”I thought it was those who claim they are prolife for religious reasons(not from any sincere respect for creation)that understand things in only the most literal sense. He was just saying what he believes to be the true,yet unspoken and hidden, beliefs of people like the pedophiles in the catholic hierarchy and the parasites who commit or allow these types of crimes to happen, benefit from them (no worries about girls learning how valuable they are to the future of humanity [hint: females more valuable than males. Ask any biologist] when they’re taught they were created from men,for men, committed original sin [taking a bite of fruit is apparently worse than being a parasite] and therefore deserving receptacles of all society’s crap) and then use the “good” book to excuse them.

The person who raped this child should NEVER have freedom again. The ignorant legalist in the catholic Church protesting the abortion has no compassion, therfore does not have the love of Christ in their heart. Period. Love always does what is best for the person. Love does NOT try to enforce a manmade rule on someone. See what Christ said the legalistic Scribes and Pharisees in the Bible.

Dave was being sarcastic. Read all of his post. Ben is an idiot. He should be ashamed and his penance should be working in a rape center for long enough to come to his senses. Though Lord knows what he’d be capable of doing. I guess moping the floors wouldn’t exactly bring any real enlightenment.

I didn’t Realize that the level of inconvenience sanctions whether or not it is justified to kill. Obviously there is a huge health risk to a 9 year old child, so trading one for one is acceptable in this difficult situation. But using the rape to justify killing a little fetus doesn’t seem logical.

Somehow it’s wrong in to kill if it was intentional sex? This is complete garbage.

While sad, lets look at the true reasons we decide to remove an entire human being’s time line from the plane of existence. I don’t see how the intentionality of the sexual act make the fetus any more or less valuable.

This poor 9 yr old child. First raped by her stepfather, then pregnant. I cringe when I think of her being raped and then trying to carry not only 1 but 2 babies.
I agree with many on this comment board, in the US, abortion is used at a form of birth control and I do not agree with that.
In the case of this little girl, she could very well die from carrying a child, why would the church any church want an INNOCENT child to die because of something she had NO part in??
I hope they put a bullet in the stepfathers head by the way.

Dave, I believe you are a very sick individual(not to mention probably a pedophile), that 9 year old child did not ask to be raped. You make me sick!

The rapist should never have freedom again. The legalistic Catholic who opposed the abortion does not have the love of Christ in their heart. Christ publicly condemned the Scribes and Pharisees for having hundreds of rules and not having love for people. To suggest that this child should be forced to carry a fetus to full term is heinous. This person is without compassion and is very judgemental. You claim to love God but do not have love for this child. You are a liar and the truth is not in you.

I don’t know, Ben, I have known a lot of “abortion victims” and they all seemed to recover fast and suffer no long lasting effects. They were sad for a few days and then it was over. Thankfully I have known very few (well, that I know about) rape victims (thankfully because the fewer out there the better) and their recovery was slow and incomplete.

This is a horrible situation regardless of the decision made. No choice is the right choice.

And sometimes children do get periods before 8 (wasn’t the youngest mother on record 4 years old?). I 1st bled in 2nd grade — so some do start early.

The US abortion rules are very sad, as they often cover up situations like this (Dad takes her in and tells her to claim it is a boyfriend of about the same age or an older brother that has been kicked out and it is dealt with quietly — no police/social services interventions). There needs to be more oversight in ensuring that child rapes (or molestations depending on the state laws) are not able to be concealed through state laws.

I hope that she is able to move in with someone stronger than her mother — someone that will have more respect for her than to allow more abuse by others in the future.

I have to defend ol Dave. I think he was being sarcastic, not mean.

I honestly can’t understand why people would condemn this abortion. The twins would have died. Many do even in the US with adult mothers. Poor medical care and a 9 yo body is unlikely to be able to support twins. That poor little girl didn’t ask for this. It’s doubtful she even really had much say. Most likely the court decided this was in her best interest. I agree, she would probably have permanent damage if she tried to carry them and they still would have died. The psychological damage would also have been great.

Rape victims should not be forced to carry a pregnancy. Women shouldn’t be forced to carry a pregnancy that will cause them great physical harm or death. Clearly this is not a moral decision but a medical one.

I am greatly dismayed by the casual use of abortion as birth control. If you play you take that risk. She didn’t play, she was forced. That’s a big difference. This isn’t even in the same ballpark as birth control abortions.

Wow, what a tragedy. I am pro-life, but I believe this situation begs for an exception. The girl is 9 years old for goodness sake! It would have been dangerous for her to carry the twin to maturity. Yes, it’s sad that there was an abortion, but no one, not the Church nor any pro-lifers should blame the little girl or the doctor. The doctor saw her condition and deemed it best for the protection of the girl to have an abortion. Here is one pro-life American who believes that abortion in this case was, although tragic, the right thing to do to protect the life of the girl.

Just to clarify things. The Catholic church never, never, never sees a reason for an abortion even to save the mother’s life. What was said in the article is the true stand of the church. If you don’t believe that, just ask any priest. I am Catholic and it is spoken about in the church all the time. That is not my belief, but it is the church’s belief.

Sadly there was a rape and an abortion. The little girl was victim of both. She had no say in either case. She was raped and she was given an abortion. Both acts were perpetrated against this young girl and her unborn children. May God help the perpetrators of these abhorent crimes and may God bless the three voiceless children that suffered these acts of agression: one a mother and two her children.

Those criminals should be hanged until death.

I think Dave was being sarcastic. No one can be that backward. Except maybe a church that would call saving the life of a nine year old BABY, murder.

I think Dave was being sarcastic. No one can be that backward. Except maybe a church saying that saving the life of a nine year old BABY is murder.

I AM PRO-LIFE! YET, THIS LITTLE GIRL SHOULD NOT HAVE TO ENDURE PREGNANCY AND BIRTH. NO WAY! SHE HAS SUFFERED ENOUGH. I BELIEVE GOD COMPLETELY UNDERSTANDS, I WOULD STAKE MY LIFE ON IT. AND BEN, YOU’RE AN IDIOT…BUT DAVE, YOU’RE COMMENTS ARE EVIL AND DISGUSTING.

Ben, are you saying that the correct thing to do would have to let a 80 lb. child carry twins to term? The twins that were fathered by rapist step-father. You think that a traumatized 9 year old girl should have been forced (a second time) to put her health risk for 9 months. I am honestly sickened, and very thankful that you were not involved in the decision. I’m sure you’d get along great with the lawyer for the archdiocese.

this is why i could never be catholic….They would have this 9 year old die to uphold their ideals.
They would rather see this already raped and tramatized young girl who is suffering,suffer some more and possible die in intense pain along with the unborn babies just to satisfy their beliefs.
yet they will forgive pedofile priests who prey on young children and priests who denie the holocaust ever happened.
They believe pedophilia is forgiveable…yet abortion is not,even in the instance of rape,incest and life or death situations.
Doesn’t sound like a very forgiving and nurturing religion to me…Thats just my oppinion anyway.
And I would love to know where the mother was,if she knew she should be in prison with the stepfather…forever.
This poor girl,where is the justice for her. I wonder if the highly oppiniated catholic church is going to spend as much effort helping this poor girl after what she has been through as they are condeming her for going through it.

The Catholic Church has protested against this abortion.I wonder if they will harrass her after she recovers?It shows a distinst lack of reality on their part.

Ok it’s funny to me that you some of you people think this nine year old little girl should have carried these babies to term, and because she did not she is gonna have issues. How about the issues she would have had later in life knowing she has kids out there she does not know or the issues she would have had from everything she would have had to go through to carry the babies. What if this was your daughter you would really sit down and say hunny sorry you may die but we can’t abort these babies cause it’s not right, how would you explain to her whats going on with her body. You people who are judging her and agreeing with the church are truly sick! I am anti-abortion in most cases but not in this one. A 9 year old girl should not have to deal with all this trama and the church and people judging her. She probly does not even understand why there mad at her. And all this judgement is causing her more uneeded trama. Be a real Christian and learn not to judge but to love and support instead!

9-years old and raped. Bearing twins yet the Catcholic Church wanted to refuse her an abortion? There’s a reason for separation of church and state and there’s no better illustration than this story…

I’m having a harder wrapping my head around the argument that she should have carried this pregnancy to term than even the crime committed against her.

Do you “pro-lifers” even comprehend what this CHILD was facing? She could have DIED. Why does she have to die because of what her step-father did to her?

With the abortion SHE (remember the 9 year old girl in all of this?) has a chance at a better life. Hopefully, she will grow up and maybe, just maybe recover from this nightmare. Perhaps she will grow up to become a much needed advocate for women and children at risk. Maybe she’ll become an attorney and prosecute such predators. Who knows?
But if she were forced to carry these twins to term, odds are she would have died….along with the twins. Three deaths for one crime. Some bargain.

But it seems, as the pro-lifers see it, it’s much more important that she be martyred to the cause of “life”. I’m not seeing it. How indirectly killing her in the name of stopping abortion…sorry. Not making sense here.

The Church has NO credibility in my eyes. It’s not just the peddy priests…it’s so much more than that….it’s bishops and cardinals living like kings while telling people at the brink of death from poverty, disease and hunger not to use birth control…It’s watching someone who took a vow of “poverty” enjoy a new Buick every year, take vacations, etc. and telling families with real troubles to ‘hang in there’ and offering no real help or guidance. It’s got to stop.

People who don’t know God and the power of Christ and the value He puts on innocent human life cannot possible understand how anyone could object to this 9 year old having an abortion. But to abort the babies – who themselves are also innocent victims – is to compound this tragedy. Now, the child must deal with the rape of her stepfather AND the death of those innocent babies. Now, both these tragedies are in her conscious.

There is no human-based psychological treatment, with its side effect-laden drugs and counseling, that can help this poor child. She has been severely traumatized and only supernatural healing will do any good for this compounded tragedy. I pray to God she comes to know Christ (and not just the religion about Him). Christ is the only hope she has for genuine healing.

And I pray to God that that monster called her stepfather comes to know Christ too. Any grown man who would do something so heinous to a helpless child… he desperately needs God.

Re the pregnant 9-year-old. Every pregnancy has some risk. The Catholic Church’s stance here is that the two fetuses could have gone to term and been delivered by Caesarean section without undue risk to the mother. And that the doctor jumped the gun declaring her life at risk. Of course, the family is going to be very poor with the stepfather in jail.

god i hope they put this guy in prison. what a freakin pig . what did poor little girl went threw.
this pg ruined her for life . i say give her a knife and let her cut it off on him. let this jerk suffer ‘like she had to

I have 2 children from my ex husband. We split up 6 years ago. I decided to never give my children a stepfather and have been single for these past 6 years. I am proud of my choice and strength. I have read about and seen so many children abused by a step parent…of both sexes. I find it very selfish that so many people are not viligant enough to protect their children. Not all step parents are animals like this male in Brazil but I am not going to try and chose which ones are and which ones are not. God bless the little children of the world.

Friends,

Please cut Dave a little slack. Read his entire entry. Though clearly not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, he was attempting to provoke introspection about the absurdity of some of the typical ‘boiler plate’ pro-life responses to the abortion question. To those of you with the knee-jerk ‘Dave you’re an idiot’ response, remember that the first requirement of critical thinking is to take into account all relevant information. Could that be the root cause of much of the acrimony surrounding this debate?

Regardless of how you feel about abortion (I’m pro-choice myself), it should be a no-brainer that an abortion was necessary in this case. First of all, the child would probably not have survived the pregnancy and childbirth, or if she did, she would have had her health permanently ruined. Second, she is a *child* in the truest sense of the word, even if her body did mature a little faster than usual. And the stepfather needs a cell with a 300 lb Bubba “lookin’ fer a wife to ease his incarceration”. (A bullet just too quick, and casteration is done under medical supervision; not enough justice for me!) As for abortion in the US, well, if we had better sex education and inexpensive access to birth control, maybe folks wouldn’t use abortion for that reason. Oh, and Pope Benedict? Contraceptives are not abortion – get over it. Preventing an unwanted pregnancy beats h*ll out of abortion, now doesn’t it. Worked for me, but then I’m not Catholic.

some of you people are disgusting! crying over two feoti, when you SHOULD be crying over this child! her body would not have been able to successfuly carry one fetus, let alone two. i’m 100% pro-choice and i know how abortions are performed, and this is one case where i completely agree with an abortion. that child could have died if she went to term. she was only 15 weeks along, meaning the feoti were not sentient nor able to feel pain anyhow. she was raped and she DID NOT deserve that, nor did she deserve to be made pregnant. anyone who says otherwise should be castrated. you uber-christians make me so happy i’m a pagan. at least my religion doesn’t look down on others. at least my religion doesn’t try to get involved in the lives of others. what if it was YOUR child who was raped and impregnated? would you force her to carry to term, damaging her body and mind, and possibly even killing her? if so, then you are a sick individual who should NEVER reproduce because it’s OBVIOUS you care MORE about a non-sentient fetus than you do about a sentient child.

First of all , my heart goes out to this little one . She will have a long road ahead of her and she will need our prayers .
As for the pig that hurt her , if we actually punished the rapists , they’d get the picture . We are so concerned with prisoner rights that we have forgotten all about victim rights . It’s time to get serious about watching out for the victim and making sure the pigs do hard time . If we don’t , this little girl will only be the tip of the iceberg .

I am PRO-LIFE! Yet, this little girl should NOT have to endure pregnancy and birth. NO WAY! She has suffered enough. I believe God completely understands, I would stake my life on it. And Ben, you’re an idiot…but Dave, you’re comments are evil and disgusting.

I am PRO-LIFE! Yet, this little girl should NOT have to endure pregnancy and birth. NO WAY! She has suffered enough. I believe God completely understands, I would stake my life on it. And Ben, you’re an idiot…but Dave, you’re comments are evil and disgusting.

Um, if I’m not mistaken, I believe Dave was being sarcastic…mocking the ignorance of some of the other posts…

Dave, you are insane. Really, she “should have thought about it before she got raped”???? What the hell is wrong with you??? Your logic makes total sense… punish the victim… Right… Get a grip…

As for a 9 year old having an abortion… Pregnancy is difficult on a woman’s body, let alone a CHILD. Her body could not handle having a baby, let alone two. She would have probably died

You people that believe she should have continued with her pregnancy need to pull your heads out of your asses.

People are focusing on the fact that her body is scarred now and that abortion is a horrible thing… Regardless of your position on abortion, this girl is a VICTIM of sexual abuse and incest, and she will be scarred mentally for the rest of her life.

Please don’t equate a case like this with the abortion issue in America! This 9- year old HAD to have an abortion in order to live. This is the only legitimate reason for an abortion: the mother’s life is at grave risk. Babies born of rape and incest can be given up for adoption -not murdered. Why compound a crime with another crime? This stepfather needs to be in a Brazilian prison. The abortion issue in America has nothing in common with a case like this. Many American women use abortion as birth control, and with government funded subsidy, they trot off to the local clinic after giving the subject about as much thought as they do in planning a shopping trip

I think the focus has been displaced in this issue. The focus should be on the punishment of the perpetrator (yes, the MAN.) Shame on anyone who is trying to make this a political issue to further their personal stance on abortion. This is not an issue about abortion – this is an issue about a child rapists – let’s not avert the focus here. There is no questions as to whether this child should have ended this pregnancy.

Also, as a footnote, I “was” a very devout Catholic and I have been struggling with whether I can continue to support the church after all of the scandals, etc. This case pretty much pushed me over the edge. I cannot raise my two daughters in a faith (sadly, my oldest just made her confirmation) where women and children are treated so poorly in favor of a male dominated doctrine. This case should have always been about protecting this little girl (by ending the pregnancy) and by keeping the focus on the stepfather who I pray will be severely punished (I have my own ideas for that as well.) To say that this child will now wonder for the rest of her life what “could have been” with the twins she was carrying is ludicrous and is making the victim the guilty one – shame on all of you that think that way. The only GUILTY one is the stepfather – transfer all of your anger to him, where it belongs!

God, please help this child to heal.

Comment by Missy

No matter what – God would have taken care of this 9 yr. old and the babies. Whatever was meant to be would have been. Yes this was a sin by the step father, but why commit another martal sin because of someone else’s sin.

I too had an abortion a long time ago-because I felt I had no where else to go. I was not raped, it was my fault and I have regretted every day of my life since.

Since then I know that what I did was wrong in my eyes and the eyes of God. I live each and everyday with the consequences of my past.

But I do honestly believe that God would have taken care of the 9 yr. old – no matter what the end result.

Just my opinion – if anyone ever considers abortion please DONT DO IT. There is another way.

God bless this world that has turned so corrupt. That is what is wrong with the world we need to put God back in the schools, in the government and you will see how our world will turn around. Trust in God – the only thing that I trust.

God Bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Through reading all these comments, I was appalled by some of the views I read! Bless you Brandy for saying exactly what needed to be said, and putting it plainly enough for some of these idiots to understand! I completely agree with what you said. Also, I believe that the only tragedy here was the rape-the abortion was quite the opposite because it gave that little girl a chance at getting her life back after that monster tried to take it away! So many people are worried about if she could have handled full term- what about the initial changes a body goes through within the FIRST couple months? That 9yoa body isn’t mature enough for that, let alone carrying anything full term! Do some research.

Abortion is an issue that brings out the passion in a lot of people. However, I have to wonder at these so called anit-abortion people. Who rail and condem abortion even if it is a 9 year old victim of rape. But in the next sentence want the step-father to be killed or stonned. You can’t be against one for of death but for another that makes no sense. Personally, the sick man needs to be castrated and spend the rest of his life in jail being raped by men much bigger and stronger than himself, maybe then he will get a taste of what he did to this precious child. The church needs to get their head out of their collective asses and stop worrying and condeming the child for having an abortion because she was raped. And start condeming the animal that put her in that situation to start with. Where are their harsh words for the step father? Their silence is defening. This child and the people around her did what was necessary to save her life. She won’t have as many nightmares from having the abortion as she will about the man who attacked her, and probably more than once. Hopefully, she will be able to recover quickly and learn that all men are not animals like her stepfather.

If the girl had access to a “safe” abortion didn’t she also have access to intense pre-natal care? Two wrongs never make a right. This poor child will get over the rape long before she gets over having her babies ripped from her. Few people want to recognize babies as babies. They killed two people to maintain the health of one. Funny, the same people who are just fine with a fetus being ripped to pieces and thrown in the trash are outraged about the Casey Anthony thing. And they call us hypocrites.

Bless you Brandy for saying exactly what I was thinking, and for putting it plain enough for some of these morons to understand! The way I see it, people are too worried about “what if”s. Why is it that nobody is thinking about what a female body goes through within the first couple months, just the initial shock to the system-and in a 9 yr old bodyto boot! Who cares about what carrying the babies full term would have done, she probably wouldn’t have made it that far anyway!

Dave, you are an ignorant fool.
That said, I am a pro-choice woman who CHOOSES to do with her body what she decides.
If a woman wants to be pro-life, that is her choice and belongs to NO man.
That child had no choice in the rape or the abortion (because of her age). The step father did and should bear the harshest of results for his actions! That the Church decided to enter the situation is the highest form of arrogance. It has never cared about women and apparently children. It is all about power and now It tries to power the people into being cruel and ignorant.

This is very interesting because a lot of Pro-Lifers are agreeing with the abortion, and that now makes them Pro-Choice! You guys can’t have it both ways, you can’t condemn abortion because its killing innocent children and then turn around and accept abortion because it will only kill 2 innocent children when it could “possibly” kill three. If you accept abortion in at least 1 circumstance then you are Pro-Choice, your argument of “saving lives” falls flat once you agree with a single decision to have an abortion.

So lets flip this story on its head, lets pretend the 9 year old had unprotected sex with a 12 year old boy (no rape) and she became pregnant. The same physical restrictions of her young body are still present, doctors are telling her that she will likely die if she carried full term. Would you Pro-Lifer’s demand that she carry full term? Should we now allow her to use abortion as a form of birth control as the Pro-Life supporters like to put it? Or should we make her suffer for her decision and take the chance carring full term?

If the only way you can make the decision of your stance is with the use of Religion, then you haven’t developed the ability to think for yourself. If at every turn you say “Babies are a blessing from God” or “Killing unborn children is against Gods will” then your opinion is useless as we already have “Gods” opinion on the subject now dont we?!

when some of you stand before a Holy and truely Perfect God, you will know that He has absolutes. while not Catholic, i applaude them, its nice to see someone finally stand up for what is right and condemn what is wrong. they are NOT criticizing this little girl but the decision made FOR her. how do you, any of you KNOW, KNOW, KNOW with 100% accuracy that this pregnancy would have killed or done irrepairable damage to this little girl. i have known many women who were told by OB’s that if they didnt abort they would have a monster…didnt happen. now there are 3 child victims. 2 murdered (not this girl’s choice so no blood on her hands/soul) and 1 who is badly damaged emotionally from the rape–as a child rape victim, i understand. this can be helped with a great deal of therapy…but many who have had abortions live with devistating guilt that is so much more difficult to deal with. this child is twice victimized…but the Catholic church is not the one victimizing her

its not for us to say if the abortion was right or wrong. i am pro-life, but i clearly understand why this decision was made on behalf of this little girl. i am praying for her (as we all should be), i pray she finds peace in this and is able to live a productive life and better herself because of this horrific tragedy. i know that may seem impossible, rape is such a violent crime, but with God all things are possible.

on another note – a few of you made the comment that it was the womans decision whether or not to have an abortion. i strongly disagree, if it takes two to make the baby than how can only one make the decision to end its life. and some of you do not believe that abortion (in this country USA) is used as a form of birth control. i think you could not be further from the truth. someone even mentioned mistakes happen, well then if you’re not ready to step up and raise a child don’t mess around!!

lastly – to the grandma who made the comment about pro-lifers not stepping up to help with the children (born out of tragedy), maybe you should start going to church and find organized religion! my church financially supports missions outisde of the usa and we work with (and financially support) multiple missions in our own area and surrounding communities. i think “the church” as a whole financially supports more causes than alot of “non-believers” do on their own.

Comment by Dave…do you believe she wanted to be raped? “She should have thought about that before being raped” What warped mind do you have? Do you watch videos of “rapes”? Do you think rape is just another word for mutual consent between two people? What are you thinking?

This was a 9 year old..not a 19 year. Even at 19 rape is still wrong. This was forcible, the man went to jail for it. But people who make responses like you did only make it possible for rapists to justify themselves for what they do. Even if it were not forced..it is still abuse. She was 9 for crying out loud. Dave I really hope that you have not done this to women and gotten by with it, because your response is so appalling it just makes me think that way.

Were the babies going to live? We may never know, but one thing if for sure….all her life a little girl will have to carry this memory with her. May God give her good strong people in her life to help her overcome mentally. This is not only tragic, but it is traumatic for her. People like Dave just help rapists justify their behavior. God have mercy on you Dave. This little girl can find grace in the eyes of God, because she is just a child.

Mom in Kansas: You are totally out of line. “Anybody ever read the life of St. Maria Goretti?” Yes. As a graduate of St. Maria Goretti High School in Philadelphia, PA, I’ve read the story. It’s called “In Garments of Red.” It is about how the young girl was stabbed multiple times and visciously by a worker on her father’s farm because she would not give in to his demands for sex. She gave up her life to preserve her virginity. She remained pure and innocent. On her death bed, she forgave her attacker. She was pretty young, maybe 12 or 13. Oh how tragic. Oh how sweet. We should all emulate St. Maria Goretti: death over loss of virtue. OH, PLEASE!! Give me a flippin’ break. The story of St. Maria Goretti has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the tragedy of this child and I really resent you trying to say it does. Do you even know the story of St. Maria Goretti? As I recall that story, she CHOSE not to engage in an act. He had been “hitting” on her for a while, she was afraid to be around him. It was a tragic day that found her alone with him. The thing that makes her story so remarkable is that she forgave him for murdering her. She knew she would die, and she forgave him. The ultimate Christ-like act. A girl who lived her faith. This 9 year old was assaulted, became pregnant, and her very life was endangered. No one was there to protect her from the beast that attacked her. However, someone finally stepped in and helped her to overcome her pain and shame. Anyone stop to think that the kid wanted to get rid of the twins? Children are more worldly and knowledgeable than we give them credit for. They may not know everything, but most know a baby is in the mommy’s tummy. I can’t imagine a 9 year old wanting a baby in her tummy, let alone two. The abortion was the best thing for this situation. I hope the kid never goes back into the environment that allowed the rape in the first place.

and why are my comments being erased? what’s wrong, don’t like hearing the truth?

I believe that the man should be punished also. I feel so sorry for the 9 year old girl. She is still a little girl. She is a baby herself. I hope that the parents get her some kind of counseling. A concerned mother.

I dare anyone on this site to condemn the decisions made to protect the life of this child. She was savagely attacked by an adult whose main purpose was to protect her from violation, pain and suffering. She was forced to bear all of those things. Just because a simple fact of nature (ovulation) made her capable of pregnancy, it does NOT mean that her underdeveloped body could sustain that stress without irreparable harm. Yes, abortion is a sin against God, but did Christ not also say “suffer the little children to come unto me”?. This child was in need of our Lords protection, and through the miracles he has given us, the advancement of our modern medicine, she was spared the devastation and ravages that a twin pregnancy could have involved. If ALL life is precious, then surely the life of this child was utmost. I abhor abortion on demand for those who are careless and use it as a form of “birth control”, but I will always support it to protect the life of the woman/girl/child who would otherwise suffer harm, or worse yet, die without it.

I am ashamed of the so called ‘church’. They act all high and mighty like they represent God and it’s their job to enforce God’s laws…what about violating the heart of the law? Mercy…love…for this precious little girl who is a victim of a heineous crime. How dare they speak so harshly to her and say nothing to the pervert that committed such a horrible crime! These so called representatives may represent a severely broken earthly church..but they do not represent God.
While they stand on the sidelines and judge this little girl, God will lovingly help her move on and get past this horrible experience. Shame on you ‘church’.

I’m sorry, the last two lines confused me. “As I have said before in many of my blogs, children need to be protected. And adults that commit these kinds of crimes need to be severely punished.”
The people who were punished in this abortion were only children. The two children who were killed and the child mother who is going to be psychologically damaged not only because of the fact that she was raped but on top of that she now has the weight of abortion on her.
Though this Doctor certainly did not commend the girl for having an abortion, he did make it seem like it was the best option for so young a mother. How about giving the statistics of REAL dangers of abortion also, Doctor? I am pretty sure that the psychological risks are more numerous and grave. Let’s please present both sides of the story.

The pregnancy was not the issue, it is the action to a horrific thought life, that is the root issue. Children are to be protected by those whom God entrusts them to Where is this girl’s mother and birth father? They should be in “jail” as well. The pregnancy is the result of this girl’s selfish out of control support system; evil desires, colossal wicked behavior not to mention a total deficit in understanding of the value of human life, respect and reverence of the miracle of the human being. We react to the pregnancy when we should be proactively educating folks as to their value and worth. We are not animals as the world would have us believe and because we have allowed to be taken captive by that thought we now behave and have become what we are told. The brain is a very powerful organ and it is the least exercised and least protected part of our body. As we continue to be our own God’s this commonplace activity, I am horrified to admit, will continue at a more rapid pace in more vile and evil ways.If this precious young girl was unable to birth these two babies her body was designed to react to that procedure naturally. Now not only will she have to contend with the acts of her parents, those whom her parents allowed to have access to her, physician included, she will contend with this loss at a time when her whole being should be nurtured and tended to at the ripe old age of 9.

God forgive us as we hand ourselves to our own destruction with every sound bite.

BEN–and everyone else criticizing the doctors and lawyers who arranged and performed this abortion–what part of UTERINE RUPTURE is hard to understand? While the Church may have had visions of a full term pregnancy neatly ended by C-section, the reality of twins in an 80 pound child’s body is that her uterus would burst open, killing the unborn children and the 9 year old, or that she would miscarry, killing the unborn children and likely also the 9 year old.

If you’re against abortion, don’t have one. And Ben, when you get a uterus, you can have an opinion. Wouldn’t the world be a better place if there were no religons and people could actually think for themselves? What we should be focusing on is how to keep girls from being raped by their step-fathers so an abortion doesn’t become an issue.

i think this is a really sad story….a 9 yo girl….whut is wrong with the world today? as being a mother of twins, it is hard. as for abortion, not my choice. but this girl had no other options. i just pray that when she grows up she will understand the choice that was made. no one will ever know of the real mental trama she will have when she is mature enough to understand what went on. maybe she will look up abortion n see the real pictures of that procedure being done. where was the mother when this happend? i am not really blaming her, but if you know your child well enuff, u will know when something is not right. as for “if the mothers life is in danger” side of abortion, i chose 2 procede. she sould have killed me but her life was worth it. as for the Rapist, he should be castrated n left to die. he knew what he was doing!!! she is not the worlds youngest person to get pregnant tho. that belongs to a lil girl who was 5 yo when she got pregnant and had her baby. ahe was raped too. she is still alive to this day, living her life privately in peru. no doubt she is tramatized as is the 9 yo girl. my prayers are with that lil girl, hoping she can overcome future obsticles in her life.

OH YEAH AS FOR SAYING SUM MEN DONT HAVE A SAY IF A WOMEN SHOULD HAVE (OR NOT) AN ABORTION..THINK TWICE. MAYBE THAT MAN WANTS THE CHILD BUT YOU DONT. I DONT JUDGE PEOPLE FOR THEIR CHOICES, BUT YOU GOTTA SEE THE POINT. AND WHEN A WOMAN HAS A CHILD HOW COME THEY COME AFTER MEN FOR SUPPORT, BUT YET ITS ONLY THE WOMENS CHOICE TO HAVE OR NOT TO HAVE??? IM JUST SAYING..BUT NOT IN REFERNCE TO THE TRAGEDY OF THE LITTLE GIRL OR SIMILAR SITUATIONS. DNA SAYS ITS BOTH OF YOURS…SO I DO SOMETIMES THINK THAT MEN DO HAVE A SAY. ITS NOT THAT HARD TO CARRY A LIFE, YOU CARRY YOURS.

My husband and I are 100% against abortion. We feel so upset for this young girl and what was done to her. We think the step father will be held accountable by God for this abortion not her. We are more upset that the Catholic church even spoke up or let this story get to the media. The Catholic church should of taken their time and effort in speaking up and put it toward this young girl and the counseling and love that she needed at this time. In this situation, the Catholic church could of disagreed and not make a public statement to let the world know what they thought. Have they done anything to help this young girl other than condemn her? She is nine years old!!! She is not a woman, even though she might be of started her menstrual cycle early!! What the Catholic did was not show the love of Christ to this young girl…now is that being an example to her? NO. They should and hopefully will step up and be the support system that she needs during this time. This young girl will be hurting and dealing with this probably for the rest of her life. She doesn’t need to be condemned by the Catholic church. She had no part in this and was the victim but they’re acting as though it was her choice.

We will be praying for this young girl and her family.

This is why I am no longer a practicing Catholic. I read the article about 3 hours ago and have finally composed myself enough to write. I have never written a comment on any other news article but I can’t help but to do so now. My initial reaction to this was tears – then the nausea and vomitting started. How can anyone in their right mind find fault with this traumatized 9 YEAR OLD girl aborting the product of the rape comitted by her own stepfather? By attempting to carry the pregnancy to term would most definitely put her life at risk. I agree with most of the others who have posted their comments. I do not believe in abortion as a form of birth control. But to subject this poor child – this poor 80 lb child – to carrying twins and then going through childbirth is, in my humble opinion, more horrific than the rape itself. I am just thankful that those who made the decision were clear minded and thought of the best interests of this child. I will share the article and my comments with my own daughters tonight. Being 15, almost 14 and almost 12 years old we have talked to them about sex/birth control/abstinence and abortion. They are never ‘easy’ conversations but they are important. And tonights conversation may the most important of all. With the love and support of those around her I hope the girl goes on to a wonderful life. She deserves it after what she’s been through.

What an awful tragedy for this little girl and aborion in this case is justified. After nine years of life, a child is supposed to carry and birth a child…let alone twins?!? Surely there is common sense and mercy in the Vatacin!! What saddens me most is the constant rape and murder of women and children all over the world everyday and the Vatacin does not step out and use its powers for these defenseless people of their God. Pope, have you heard of DARFUR? Surely you have…why don’t you call on all the Catholics and Leaders of the world to step up and have mercy on those who are powerless and forgotten by your God. Use your platform to bring change and awareness to such inhumane, brutal, mericiless slaughter. Girls even younger then 9 gang raped, sodomized, tortured…their insides torn and ripped apart. Speak for them Pope. PLEASE!!!! This is happening now people as we write our blogs sitting at home or work in front of our computers…RIGHT NOW it’s happening.

CG – No girl or woman EVER gets over a rape! They can move on with their lives but a violation of their rights and their body is never gotten over. This child needs a loving, caring and protective home. Hopefully, she does not see all the media reports.

I could not be classified in the most remote sense as pro-choice. I think the pro-death movement/abortion as birth control mentality we’ve adopted in this country is disgusting.

However, in this case, it is a no-brainer. Anyone that thinks that this 9-yr-old should have been forced to carry to term or ‘as far as she can’ is completely out of their minds.

As for the sick SOB who inflicted this upon her, I wish upon him a slow, painful death.

i agree dave you are an idiot
i do believe there are people out there who rape men
think about that for a minute or perhaps you choose to be raped
get in the real world

As the name implies, here’s my two cents. First off, what was done to this girl was, of course, pure evil. But last I checked, the children that come from rape and incest have the same evil quotient as the rest of us.

Some of the comments that have been made address things such as a woman’s right to do what she wants with her body. Then why are illicit drugs and suicide illegal? It’s my body! Also, that 20-30% of pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion anyway, so what’s the big deal about abortion? Umm, let’s think about this one. Which would you prefer? Dying of natural causes, or being ripped limb from limb, burned, or maybe by having the back of your head cut open and your brains sucked out? I know which one gets my vote!

Also, that the abortion spares this girl more trauma. Well, if as so many of you claim, she doesn’t fully understand pregnancy or abortion, why not let her carry the twins, closely monitored until they ACTUALLY start causing her trouble? Generally speaking, babies don’t spontaneously blow up and kill people, even very small people. Then, if it is necessary, take the babies by way of drugs that will basically let them go to sleep. You know, like we put down our pets. Not of the ripping and burning and such. That way, everyone gets a chance.

As for the nonsense about most women not regretting having abortions, where on earth do you get your statistics?? Holy cow!

There, two cents, without any hate, religion, or churh-bashing.

The child was raped! She is only 9 years old, her body could not support both babies, she would have died in labor! You people should be focusing on the man who raped her, they should push for his castration! Who gave the church the right or power to say anything!? Yeah, Catholics should talk, especially when Pope John Paul II knew about the molestations in the US and did nothing to prevent it!? What a great religion, promotes molesting of children!

This is truly a tragedy, but think about it: Why are we so quick to kill the most innocent party (the twins) instead of the most guilty party (the rapist)? His life will probably linger in this world for several more years whether there’s a death penalty or not. These babies had no part in their own conception at all and weren’t even given a chance. I’m not saying whether this girl should have had an abortion or not, but think about what’s being said. This applies to any pregnancy as a result of rape.

As Dr. Manny has said, there is very little evidence regarding girls of her age and pregnancy, yet we are quick to conclude that she couldn’t as a reason to abort this pregnancy. This girl may or may not struggle with feelings regarding the abortion on top of the rape. God gives grace for every situation.

I am a young, single mother of twins, and I have also had an abortion.

What was done to this girl was sick and disgusting; the rapist should be punished with the harshest measures and never allowed to be around children again. About the abortion, I wish it had happened sooner. If it was my daughter, I would probably have done the abortion as well, but months before this point.

Remember, this child was 15 weeks along already-well into her second trimester. This is what I think the key (and often overlooked) point is. Ten more weeks and they could have been born and survived, given the right care.

I think it’s sad and tragic that this happened to this girl, but I don’t believe that her babies (by 15 weeks she could probably feel them kick) should have died, too. Adopting them out would have been the best choice. I honestly don’t think that having them by preplanned c-section would have traumatized her more than she already was. She’s barely old enough to understand. It’s all very tragic, but I don’t think it would have hurt her more.

That so many responded to Dave’s post only illustrates how ubiquitous stupidity is in our society. Again, for all those who want to invoke God’s law to decry abortion, perhaps you could address why He allows so many miscarriages? Where are your self-righteous absolutes or is it that you’ve become comfortable in the moral relativism which results from your cognitively dissonant doublethink? After the “great flood” drowning untold #s of babies, the last plague of Egypt killing untold #s of male firstborn and the order to slay Amalekite babies, I guess you don’t mind your cruel and blood thirsty God. But do as He says, not as He does, right?

For those like R. W. who claim life begins at conception, well that’s wrong too given an ovum and a spermatazoa are both individually human and alive, as are the many cancers both human and alive. Perhaps he should retake his high school biology. Folks like R.W. want to give God credit for all the miracles, e.g. life, babies, planes landing on the Hudson, etc, but where’s the equal credit for all the tragedies (Tragicles, if you will) which are clearly part of “His plan”? That sacred crutch is quite the collection of irrational and disjointed logical and ethical reasoning.

Of course the Catholic Church is furious. They hate women and look for any chance to hurt women physically or mentally. The life of the mother doesn’t matter; she isn’t a person, she’s just a vessel to hold embryos. The fact that a continued pregnancy and childbirth might have killed or permanently damaged the child is irrelevant to theological thugs. The Catholic church isn’t prolife; it’s pro-reproductive slavery. Yes, I’m prochoice. Totally. Decisions concerning a woman’s body should only be made by the woman.

I say add 2 counts of manslaughter.

First, I want to say that my thoughts and prayers are with that poor girl and her family. What a tragic and horrible situation to have to face!

Second, I want to address all of the people that have attacked the Catholic Church on this. The Church did not attack the girl, they merely told the powers that be that abortion shouldn’t be an option. You can agree or disagree with that but the amount of hatred I am reading toward the Church is uncalled for. It is the world’s largest charitable organization and had done a lot in situations like Darfur and other horrible situations. Most places with names like St. Jude or St. Francis or the Marian House are Catholic.

Third, the conversation of abortion always takes into account the mother, whether she is 9 years old or 40 years old but never takes into account the child. In the abortion issue, there is really one question. “Is the unborn human or not?” Is it a person or not? If it is, then it is murder to abort it. If it isn’t, than it is not murder and abortion is just another operation.

The next question that one has to ask is, If it isn’t a human being, a person, than what is it? A cat? A dog? It certainly isn’t a cat, or dog, Humans beget humans, cats begat cats. It has to be a human being.

One last question, just because it is a human, is it a “person”? We don’t know. But if there are people trapped in a mine, don’t we assume they are alive? We have to assume it is a person because doing otherwise would result in murder.

Darlene, I’m not sure if you were addressing my post. Anyway, I completely agree with your statement that no girl ever REALLY ‘gets over’ a rape/sexaul assault. As an abuse survivor myself, I only meant that she would eventually get to the point where (hopefully) she could know that it wasn’t her fault, she didn’t deserve it, and, no, she didn’t ask for it, and yes, you CAN have a good life and YES YOU ARE ENTITLED TO GOOD LIFE. Whatever your definition of a good life is.
I struggle daily with how my experience shadows my day to day life. But being aware of it is half the battle. If I allowed my experience to control me, my abuser would, in effect, still be abusing me.

Perhaps when she grows up, now that she has an actual chance to grow up, she may go on to do something for other women and girls in similar situations.

I doubt very much if she’s carrying any guilt about the abortion. If anyone should feel ‘guilty’ it’s the step dad. Remember him people?

As many reasons as there were to keep those babies alive, I do believe that there were more reasons to not risk or ruin the life of that young girl by making her have two kids she never asked for and never intended to conceive.
I am sickened by this man who was brought into her life only to abuse her in this way and I pray that the mother was truly naive to how this happened or she should be held liable also. A previous poster mentioned that she would wonder and think about her babies now that they are gone but she will more than likely block these events into her subconscious and would have had psychological issues irregardless.
What if she’d had the kids?
Would they know that their grandmother’s husband was their father or would they grow up thinking that their mother was their sister?? Or would they be taken away and placed in an alternative home and not known their real mother and family at all?
I would never want to see something like this happen to my baby girl who is just 2 now but thank God I wouldn’t have to wait on a court order to get the abortion done.
I really hope she is able to move on from this but I know she will never be a “normal” little girl again.

My heart goes out to that poor little girl and her family. The media storm of attention they will be recieving can’t possibly aid her in healing.

Dave was obviously being sarcastic in his post, as his second paragraph essentially negated the vitriol of his previous claim. Reading comprehension: Look into it.

I am firmly of the opinion that if you disagree with abortion: don’t get one. I would never consider one for myself, but far be it from ME to judge someone else for their choices. Especially in cases of rape, incest and threatening the life of the mother.

What really bothers me are the people who, in one breath are saying that ending life at any point in the cycle is murder, and in the next are proposing DEATH, CASTRATION, TORTURE and more on the rapist. You cannot, from a moral stand point, defend life on one end, and not in another. If all life is sacred, then that includes the lives of criminals.

Me, personally? I’m glad that the girl was able to get the care she needed to survive, and I hope that she eventually grows up happy, healthy and able to have a family on HER TERMS when she is an ADULT.

Pardon me, I’m going to go make a donation to Planned Parenthood now. If we funded more preventative and contraceptive care, there would be less need for what you “Pro-lifers” hate so much.

Comment by Dregun
March 5th, 2009 at 9:54 am

This is very interesting because a lot of Pro-Lifers are agreeing with the abortion, and that now makes them Pro-Choice!…….

—————————————————————————————————————

NO, NO, NO, NO, NO Dregon. YOU are WRONG. I know there are circumstances where God understands. He loves us all and knows our hearts. This CHILD was violated and to be extremely blunt, her genitalia probably damaged forever!!! You f*in IDIOT! Your comments bring out the worst in me, you f*in a$$hole. YOU have NO UTERUS, so SHUT UP!
I truly wish all the best for this little girl.

Many people keep talking about God forgiving the little girl. Has it not occurred to them the little girl probably had no say so in this matter. She was the victim, but obviously the adults in her life made the decision to abort the children (for which I applaud them). She has no need to ask for nor need God’s forgiveness. She was sinned upon, not the sinner, in both the rape and the abortion (if you view that as a sin; I do not in this issue). To place the child in need of forgiveness for the rape, pregnancy and/or abortion is absurd. She is blameless in all aspects. The step-father–that’s clearly where the sin and need for forgiveness lies in this issue. Yes God will forgive him if he sincerely repents, but that doesn’t mean he will escape responsibility here on earth.

To “Q” and others with the same argument –

Why does God allow so many spontaneous abortions (miscarriages)? Are you kidding me?! Can’t help it, you’re idiots! There are MANY reasons why pregnancies end in miscarriage. After many of them, the fetuses are examined and doctors learn that MOST had SERIOUS health problems such as heart defects, malformations, and Turner Syndrome etc. And some defects were of “natural” causes and a lot are CAUSED by a mother who smokes or drinks etc. So, doctors will say, “it is nature’s way of taking care of the problem.” Now, I don’t know why so many children are still born with defects but they are. Can’t change that. But come on, the ridiculous argument that God allows miscarriages because he’s a bloodthirsty God? Oh boy, you’re a wacko. CHOOSING to end a baby’s life because “YOU” chose to have sex is COMPLETELY different from RAPE. Especially when it is a NINE-YEAR-OLD BABY!!!!!!!!!

The Catholic Church never ceases to amaze me. I truly hope one day sheeple will wake up and realize what evil lurks therein and turn their backs on this antichrist!

What bunch of raving aholes could actually condemn this little girl for her and her family’s decision to abort all the while turning a blind eye on pedophilia. It brings to mind a case in Tucson, AZ of a deacon who molested a 10 year old girl, impregnated her and then condemned the girl for seeking an abortion.

“Churchmen” are truly vile, hypocritical pieces of garbage!!!! Do as I say, not as I do.

Uh, ‘mytwocents’ you don’t realize that the types of abortions you described “being ripped limb from limb, burned, or maybe by having the back of your head cut open and your brains sucked out” are illegal in the US, right?

Everyone saying she could have carried longer and survived – you are not doctors, you have not examined this girl! Leave medical judgments to doctors. Her doctors felt her life was at risk. According to a poster on another forum who lives in the country where this happened, local news reports said the girl was granted the abortion because she was already having serious pregnancy complications. It is VERY difficult to get an abortion in Brazil without a serious medical reason, so perhaps you should believe the doctors who examined her, saw that the pregnancy was having complications and her body wasn’t doing well, and decided that the risk of death for her was too great and the pregnancy had to be ended.

So, the mother and the doctors who did what they thought was best for the girl was ex-communicated. But what about the step-father/rapist? Shouldn’t he be ex-communicated too? Just asking!

To Elle,

you missed the whole point that the others are making. So, (a) is it that God is not omnipotent, that he cannot create a perfect fetus at each conception which makes spontaneous abortion necessary? Or (b) perhaps he could but would no, just so that some fetus would have to suffer, which would make him a sadistic immoral being! Pick (a) or (b) and run with it.

To Elle-
Perhaps you should reread what you were replying to and then you could provide the response to the points in which the bloodthirsty nature of the deity in question were made evident, e.g. flood, Egyptian plague, order to kill Amalekite children and infants. Care to give that a shot?

My point was the illustration of the cognitive dissonance between claiming the righteousness of this supernatural origin of morality against abortion, when this very same morality origin condones fetal death in both action (evident in the examples above) and inaction (evident in natural miscarriage). Given the intervention to prevent these fetal deaths is within the deity’s power, is there no responsibility in choosing not to intervene? Let me guess, it’s just part of the plan, like tsunamis and malaria and we shouldn’t compare our morals to the deities morals. That, by definition, is moral relativism, i.e. what is wrong for us (to kill and/or let die), is o.k. for the deity. Maybe you could take a shot at defending this aspect of the deity’s apathy and/or impotency?

I can understand why you would call me “ridiculous” and “wacko” given you didn’t/couldn’t understand or respond to my point. However, perhaps you should go read about the Amalekites and gain a little perspective on what is and what isn’t “ridiculous” and who is and who isn’t a “wacko”. Oh, and nice use of ALL CAPS IN YOUR POST! REALLY MAKES UP FOR ITS VACUITY!!!!!

Everyone that has commented on this blog seems to think that your opinion matters in this case? NO, it doesn’t! Of course, unless you are this little girl….. & I don’t think you are! This is about a 9 year old little girl, not you, or your opinions! It is about her being a victim of a horrible crime. She is the one who has to indure, heal, & move on to live her life….. not you! I’m confident that her doctor(s) made a sound medical decision concerning her health. I think not that they would have done this in haste, since abortion is illegal in their country. It should now be about her healing process & the conviction of her abuser. What the Catholic church, you, or I think has no bearing here. Our opinions on abortion does nothing to heal this broken-sprited child. Prayer is all you can offer this child, not your opinions. No matter our origin of faith, we should feel compassion for this 9 year old little girl that was horribly victimized. Come together in prayer and comfort, not in anger and disagreement. However, if after reading my words you still disagree with the way her doctor(s) handled her care, by way of abortion, well…… I pray that you never have a 9 year old child be raped & become pregnant from it! Remember this my friends, God will judge those who have sinned against Him. It is not our place to do that on His behalf. We are to love each other as Christ loves the church. We are to love this 9 year old little girl.

My heart goes out to this child. I pray for her and her family.

This is such a difficult story. The child has endured so much being raped by her step father and having an abortion. This sad and sick. This little girl needs everyone support and for the church not to be there for this child is sad.

Myself I am a survivor of childhood rape and also at age 26 had a miscarriage(which is not the same by no means) and went through years of complication with reproductive and emotional issues beacause of this. what this child has went through. my goodness she shouldn’t be judge what’s done is done if you are for abortion or not this little girl needs there support and love of everyone

thank you Cj21
I agree she needs prayer not judgement

My heart goes out to this poor soul. It seems the so called catholic church is out to victimize yet another child. Shame on them. I am a man. It is true the saying of us. What a wretched thing we are.

I do not wish anyone to have an abortion but if I were this girls mother, after I cut my husband’s balls on off, I would have her have the abortion. Medically or not, that child is way to young to have babies. Expecially 2. She is also too young to have to live with the consequences of a grown man’s lust???? The Lord did not put that baby in her. The devil is what made her a baby. That evil step father….he is the Devil that seeded that child. No the Lord doesn’t want us to have abortions but I have no doubt he will forgive the mother.

I would like to get a hold of the man – I am looking for my step father that did the same thing to me although I was not pregnan, he totally violated my older sister.

Church stand up and love your children…..castrate the step father and hold the child near and dear until the Lord takes them home. He is the only one able to make any judgement on the Mother and the child has done no wrong. God Bless her……..Granny of 3

Comment by Ben
March 4th, 2009 at 4:11 pm This girl has been betrayed and victimized twice: first, allegedly by the stepfather, but second, by those in the legal and medical professions whom she thought she could trust. Now childless, she will live the rest of her life wondering what her babies would have looked like, how old they would have been, whether their death is on her hands. I don’t blame her, because she is too young to understand such monumental ramifications. The problem with passing off abortion as such an easy and accessible alternative is that we are responding to one crime of violence with another. And while many rape victims survive to begin the healing process, sadly, most abortion victims don’t.

So, Ben

I am not any more pro-choice than you are, but are you implying that a LITTLE 9 year old CHILD should have to endure the possiblility of death and pain that she should not have to bear because someone was sick and twisted and thought that he had the right to take away her innocence? Its right to lifers like you that make me sick…Sure there are other options to abortion, but she is a CHILD and did not choose to become pregnant, she was attacked by someone her mother and herself thought they could trust. You should rethink your attitude

Killing innocent lives, whether by Manson’s killers or U.S. abortion laws are wrong.

While doing a bible study, I read in the old testament: “…God is against a hypocritical nation…”
God filled my living room with a great vision. The statue of liberty was standing with a message: “…Give me your huddled masses…” A barrel opened up, and there were huddled masses of aborted babies.

God quickened in me the judgement against the U.S. for their evils.

It was only an innocent bible study, that I had that afternoon. I don’t drink or take drugs.

They took prayer out of schools, the commandments of God out of school, and now they cranked kids out of school without morals. It’s no wonder there are homosexual, pedophyle, and lesbian teachers.

My church agrees that a nine year old should’nt have gotten pregnate. Even a babtist that sits behind me in class agrees that a 9 year old shoul’ndt get pregnate,the poor girl could’nt support the babies. If you disagree, think of a typical nine year old, they can’t support the baby.I am in seventh grade, and I weigh 67 pounds, I could’nt even support a baby. She can’t control that her stepfather raped her. She can’t control that he fertilized two eggs. But please don’t let her suffer. And if you read the bible closely, God wants all little children to be happy, and all of that pain would give her pain and hurt. Plus, A little child should’nt be expecting a child in that manner. I am neutral on the stance of abortion, but in cases like this, it’s neccissary. God will forgive the poor little girl and will help her through the psychological and emotional pain. And as for that stepfather, I hope he gets gets a bullet through the head. I would say have him carry the babies for her with a transplanted uterus, but that’s too nice.

Hey “Dr.” Manny–How was this tragedy compounded by this poor child having her twins aborted? Sounds like further tragedy averted to me. Not saying the abortion makes everything ok–but at least she has a better chance of preserving her bodily integrity.

FYI–she was not “allegedly raped”. No 9-year-old is capable of consenting to sex!

Once there was a blonde who wasn’t feeling well, so she went to her doctor. The doctor performed some tests, then came in and announced to her: “You’re pregnant.”

She looks up at the doctor and asks, “Is it mine?”

I realize the above joke may seem tasteless, given the gravity of the above article, and I do not know whether this is one of those true “save the life of the mother” situations. But what I do know is that those twins were HER babies. And yes, she will think about them when she gets old enough to process the emotions. And she will grieve. True, it may be a no-win situation, but let’s not forget that they were her babies too. And as such they should not be quickly forgotten or unmourned.

(Being relegated to the label of “idiot” is a small price to pay for being able to speak freely. Enjoy that freedom while you have it.)

How sad for this little girl. We can argue our christian points till we’re blue in the face, but this mom was faced with a HORRIFIC situation….may God just bring healing physically and mentally to this little girl and her family.

Seeker and Q –

Wow, you are both incredible. Your comments are truly laughable. And while a part of me wants to debate, it would be pointless. You’ll all find out the truth someday. Whether you believe in God or not, most would agree that trials can make us stronger if we choose to learn from them. This is an imperfect world, it’s pretty simple. God is real, he loves us all, and I believe He allows things or atrocities to happen because of what I said previously. Look, beautiful and miraculous things happen everyday. This nine-year-old girl is a miracle. Her life is one of many. What happened to her was evil and the Step-dad (who chose to use his own free-will and agency) should at least spend the rest of his life in prison. And I happen to believe abortion was right in this case, she’s a baby herself. I hope and pray her body, mind, and spirit will heal.

Oh and by the way “Q” – You’re threatened. People like you who hear or are confronted with truth always are. You are afraid of it. That is why you insist so vehemently on “proving to the world” how intelleigent you are with your colorful words. Say, how long did you spend on Thesaurus.com? Really, you seem to be a person who just can’t handle truth so you cling to your words and trust only in “the arm of the flesh”, which will one day fail miserably. Good luck.

Here’s the real Pro-Life view: The twins should not have been aborted. Who cares if it the pregnancy killed the 9 year old mother and the twins too. We are going for 3 lives or nothing!!!

Oh and btw, God will hate the 9-year mother, now that she had an abortion.

To those Pro-Lifers out there with a conscience… be careful that you are not being led to form a society where tyrannical archbishops like the ones in Brazil will excommunicate (i.e. condemn to hell by preventing communion with the saints) the 9 year old, the doctors, the mother of the pregnant girl, BUT NOT THE RAPIST STEPFATHER!

TO BEN. WHAT THE HELL WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT FEMALES AND ABORTIONS. EFF YOU, THE CHURCH AND DEATH TO THE PERVERT WHO RAPES.
CHEW ON THAT YOU UNDER EDUCATED KNOW IT ALL.

I am very pro-life and very Catholic. I think it was right that the Catholic spoke on this issue. While carrying the pregnancy to term may have been hard on the victim in this case, as it was not her choice to become pregnant, it is not different than cases of rape and in all cases a baby is the victim who never had a choice.

Abortion is not a solution to a problem. As in cases of medical necessity, which the Catholic Church supports, doctors and other medical professionals should have done everything in their power to save and preseve all lives knowing that it would be very physically demanding. They should not have done anything that intentionally ended the life of the baby/twins.

My heart is sadden by the situation. That young girl must be so confused, terrifed and lost. However, abortion is never the answer when a pregnant mother feels this way. As many published research shows, the once-pregnant women often feels more negative emotions after the abortion than before.

A 9 year old is still growing and confused, this kind of trauma, the rape, incest, pregnancy and abortion will have a lasting impact on her life. She and her babies will be in my prayers

Here is my prospective………I am the mother of 10 year old twins, I was 110 pounds when I got pregnant with them at 29 years old, and it nearly killed me. My uterus ripped from the size of the babies and I came close to bleeding to death and had to have blood transfusions….my point is, How the hell do you expect a 9 year old child that weighs 60 pounds to carry twins? It would have killed her for sure and that would have been a triple tragedy. Have some common sense people….have you been around any 9 year olds? Do you know how small they are? This poor child is a victim on many levels but at least she will not be physically at risk from the pregnancy. She definately will need lots of emotional counseling over the years as she realizes the depths of what has happened to her.

Use common sense and leave God out of it, he already knows.

Umm… you people all seem to misunderstand the nature of “rape” when it comes to children. If someone over the legal age limit has intercourse with someone under it this is classified as “rape” in the eyes of the law. Consent may have been present but is not considered valid coming from a child. Just pointing out that maybe this wasn’t the case where the bloke deserves to be “shot in the head” as some people have put it. People please get some facts straight. Also if God wanted the twins to live God would have given them super anti abortion powers. Unlucky, wasn’t meant to be.

“Comment by Q
March 4th, 2009 at 6:36 pm

To all the religious anti-abortion folks in this thread, perhaps you could direct some of your self-righteous indignation to the one responsible for the ~20-30% of pregnancies ending in spontaneous abortion. Go ahead and assert your convoluted and irrational excuses for why the one who demands an end to abortion allows so many to occur naturally. Is it apathy or impotence preventing the required intervention? Talk about moral relativism…”

Most of the time, spontaneous abortion occurs when there is a problem with the fetus anyway. It is very hard on the mother to lose a child this way too. God does everything for a reason, you just have to believe. Elective abortion is still killing an innocent life (murder). The step-father will probably just get a slap on the wrist, even though this is all his fault, and the mother should have prevented it from happening in the first place.

You know what? It’s none of your business what that girl or any other woman does in her doctor’s office. And yes the woman should have more say into what happens than the man. And yes I don’t like it when women use abortion as birth control or have casual abortions. But that is her choice.

And for those who think she should have had the babies I ask you this. You think those lives are more important than hers? I hope your daughters don’t have a pregnancy where her life is in danger. What are you going to tell her when she says that if she has this child her chance of living is slim? You’re going to tell her that the baby is more important than she is and she should risk her life? Shame on you. I have a daughter and she is more precious to me than anything else in this world. If she came to me with that situation I would tell her not to risk her life.

How the hell do you guys know what God thinks of these issues? Have you personally talked to him about it? And don’t quote the Bible. It was written by humans. It sickens me when people bring religion into issues.

By the way, I am Catholic and I attend Mass every week.

Bottom line is that the girl’s stepfather was very wrong to violate his stepdaughter in such a manner! This poor girl can’t carry two babies and shouldn’t have to concerning the circumstances! This is crazy. Even the doctor’s said she wouldn’t be able to have these babies. No matter how she would have had them, there is still the fact remaining that her stepdad did a horrible crime. Instead of prosecuting or getting upset with the daughter and her decision, we need to make sure this guys is punished for his actions!

HOW ABOUT WE STOP JUDGING EACH OTHER THE GIRL AND THE WHOLE SITUATION I REALISE EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO THIER OWN OPINION ON THIS VERY TOUGH SUBJECT BUT THE ONLY THING THAT REALLY MATTERS HERE IS THE LITTLE GIRL IS SAFE AND HOPEFULLY CAN LIVE OUT A NORMAL LIFE WHO CARES IF YOU ARE PRO-CHOICE OR PRO-LIFE YOUR OPINION DOESN’T MATTER IN THIS CASE AND I AGREE WITH MANY OTHERS THAT SAY ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE

ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS I HOPE THE LITTLE GIRL GETS THE HELP SHE WILL NEED AND THAT SHE HAS LOTS OF LOVE AND SUPPORT FROM FRIENDS AND FAMILY. AS FOR THE STEPFATHER I KNOW GOD WILL HAVE THE FINAL JUDGEMENT FOR THAT PEDIFILE.

The step-father should be charged with rape and 2 counts of murder, for he caused this. Then he should be tortured to death. There is no excuse for destroying the innocence of this poor child. OMG, she needs all the love and protection she can get. As for the abortion, it is so very sad too that 2 more innocent lives were destroyed, but I can agree that carrying them in the tiny 9 year old body was probably too much for the child to handle physically and would either have killed her or seriously hurt her physically for the rest of her life. This is such a sad tragedy. I agree that lives are sacred, but not for the evil stepfather who did this; yes, god loves us for who we are, but what we do defines what we are = and that man is pure evil – something the world can do without.

This is a complex issue that doesn’t have an easy answer. Should this young girl have ever been in the situation to begin with? NO! But, we live in a world that worships the sex act and has no idea of the purpose behind it. When you don’t understand how & why something works – misuse is inevitable. Does the church have a point? YES! Scripture is clear that God Himself is the one who opens the womb. There are examples throughout history of people never using any form of birth control and having only one child – or even none. Whatever the Catholic Church says, this girl will need spiritual counsel. She will need much help to process this as she grows up and realizes emotionally and mentally that she is without two of her children. Whether she intended to become pregnant or not, there will still be something in her that needs healing because of the death of her children. I don’t think judgment of the girl OR THE CATHOLIC CHURCH is the issue. How our society deals with sex is – this world needs to change.

To Q and Seeker – your posts are right on: well-thought out, carefully worded and your challenge Q (to Elle) is well-crafted. But you know what? She won’t be able to answer it. She’s already answered and said she’s not answering. She says she COULD, but she won’t. That just translates to “I can’t because I can’t argue the questions you put to me by directly replying to them. I must divert and talk about something else or make statements about God that have nothing to do with your questions”. She CAN’T… she is UNABLE, to answer. Now, I think Elle, that you appear smart, but not thoughtful. Only when you fully answer questions like what Q and Seeker put out, will you be thoughtful. Well, again, depending on whether you actually answer the questions. None of the extreme, right-wing pro-life religious people ever, ever, ever, ever answer any questions like that, because if they do, they realize that they are using circular logic at best, or will have to come to the conclusion that frightens them the most, which is something that lies deep within them but they are afraid to approach: and that is that their belief in God.. the God of the Bible, is non-sensical. One isn’t spiritual just because one believes in God. Most are simply wishful thinkers. So all you conservative Christians out there, you believe because you are afraid.

To Q and Seeker: Your posts are well thought out, rational, educated and intelligent. Ooohhh! That’s scary for Elle and others on here. The moment anyone has great command of the English language, they are “elitists” or whatever. Elle will not answer your questions because she CAN’T answer your questions. She can’t have the argument with you, nor can any other conservative Christian fundamentalist, because the answers will frighten them. If they truly use their brains, and use deductive reasoning, and honestly think about the question and actually answer it, they will either realize that their own reasoning is faulty and that would scare them. Their kind of belief in God is non-sensical, and based on faith. Faith that the Bible is the true word of God and not something written by men, in a time different from ours. Faith that an all-knowing, all-powerful, omnipotent being is watching out for us. So if they start to ask one question, then more would follow, and they would have to abandon their faulty reasoning. And their faith. Those who would have this 9 year old raped girl carry twins to term in an underdeveloped uterus can justify it by their non-sensical belief. But they will never, ever, ever, ever, ever answer questions like yours…. they say they ‘won’t', but it’s because they CAN’T.

just a simple question? how do you people know that god did not intervene by providing the doctor to save this young childs life???

how do any of you know that god didn’t intervene by making the doctor available to save her life??

To Both Elle and Betty-

I notice yet again, neither of you cared to address the points I made, specifically your invoking a supernatural source for your self-righteous moral authority where this supernatural source is without question, morally relativistic and apathetic and/or impotent. Statements like “you just have to believe” and “You’ll all find out the truth someday” only further illustrate your respective inabilities to provide rational substance for your positions. Where is the defense of the flood which drowned infants, of the killing of firstborn Egyptian children and of the order to slay Amalekite babies, all of whom would presumably meet a reasonable definition of innocent? As for me feeling threatened, well, Elle doth protest too much, methinks…

Who is this “Mom in Kansas”?! Insane. The girl was too young to carry a child, her little body would not have been able to sustain the pregnancy. Use your head and try to avoid preaching to those of us who are intelligent, literate individuals. Pro-life or pro-choice, the correct decision was made to save her life. Interesting side note – amazing how one can place a pro-life sticker on their car and pro-choice advocates will not abuse the vehicle or bomb that person’s home or business, like so many violent pro-lifers, but God forbid a pro-choice advocate place one on their car – their vehicle runs the risk of a multitude of damages. I have seen this happen. Many times. Wildly out of balance and a tad hypocritical. Everyone has the right to believe what they choose, we should respect, even if we don’t agree, each others opinion.

why do men think their sick sexual needs are OK and when things like this happen the news glossed over what should be aired is how the Step father was punished, I can think of a few answers but I know this would never be discussed .
I hear ads to help men get erections how does science have the fund to resurch how to get it up but not keep it down in theses sick people.

If the parents/guardians if this girl were smart, they did not tell her that she was pregnant, they just told her that she had a medical problem that needed to be treated.

I doubt this happened though. The current parent/ guardians obviously don’t have much of a track record of protecting this child.

More like the archbishop needs to have the twins, Better yet lets all abort the Catholic church as its surely out of touch with the real world. Nine year old girls don’t have babies, and the Catholic church needs to stay out of what a the girl’s mother and the law decide to do to protect the a Nine year old girl’s life. Which if this girls is forced to have these twins will endanger her life if not even kill her just because the Catholic church can’t accept the modern world.

I’m so sorry for this girl- what a horrible thing to have to go through. Then to have the babies aborted. It is just sad for everyone. Someone at the hospital needs to be investigated if it is illegal in this country.

In response to Comments from Mojove:

Medical Science does not have the capability to remove a fetus from one woman and transplant it into another. It can’t be frozen and saved for later implantation. If an unviable fetus is removed for any reason -IT IS AN ABORTION and that’s all there is.

A 9 year old child shouldn’t be pregnant with one fetus, much less twins and the only people at fault are her pervert child raping step father and the Roman Catholic Church for even suggesting that this child risk her life, her future reproductive health and or her future mental health in stating that abortion was wrong for this child.

The only thing wrong with abortion for a 9 year old is that she should never have been raped! The only other thing I find offensive is your astounding lack of biology and reproduction so I strongly suggest you stay in Jr. High and pay attention more in class.

Good God! I’m embarassed for you!

I am a mother of two daughters, one of them is 10 years old and weighs about 80 lbs. I couldn’t imagine seeing her pregnant and pregnant with twins. I am not for abortion but there are alot of things I am not for, but this 9 year old is a baby and no matter what children go to heaven. She is not of the age of accointability, but her fater is. He will be judged for this not this child. She did nothing wrong. In the Bible it states things that God detest and on of them is the shedding of innocent blood. Do you think that this 9 year old did not bleed when she was rapped. I was rapped when I was 11 years old and I bleed. I’ll tell you another thing we will be judged with the same measure that we judge others, so think twice before you cast the first stone.

If the abortion was a decision made without the input of the child, regardless of her lack of understanding of the health risks or how the babies even got there, the decision has the potential to traumatize her apart from the rape, making her a victim once again.

In a nation heavily influenced by Catholic values and teachings, it’s unlikely this nine-year-old had a clue how babies managed to get into the “tummies” of any pregnant women I’m sure she has known of by this age. If the basics of procreation were not explained to her once the pregnancy was discovered, it is unlikely her brain would connect the horrible event she experienced with the annoucement of something cute and possitive to nine-year-old girls; babies.

I imagine a pregnant nine-year-old, the victim of rape by a man who was certainly no “stranger hiding in the bushes,” is as much a living symbol of shame as she is of pity to her mother. Every week her daughter’s pregnancy progressed and became more visible to all would only further this mother’s humiliation, and probably her guilt as well. I doubt the child had any choice whatsoever when it came to ending the pregnancy. The church had a voice, the mother had a voice, but I’m sure the child did not.

Based solely on the above scenario, if true: I would suggest the abortion was morally questionable because it was done for all the wrong reasons.

THIS SHOULD BE VERY UNDERSTANDABLE WITH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. BUT KNOWING THAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS TO BE NEUTRAL. BUT THE CHURCH SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT ITS NOT ALWAYS EASY BEING A LITTLE GIRL OR GROWING UP AS A WOMAN. THE WORLD WE ARE LIVING IN HAS TO KNOW WOMEN ARE NOT ALWAYS COMFORTABLE IF A MAN RAPES HER. EVEN SO MUCH TROUBLE EVEN ABOUT MEDICINE NOW. IF GIRLS HAS LIKE TROUBLE WITH FEMALE PROBLEMS I THINK IT SHOULD BE OVERLOOK. MOST CHOICES EITHER WANTS YOU TO DIE, BE IN PAIN , OR WORK AROUND IT. NOW SOME THINGS I AGREE. ITS WRONG TO KILL YOU OR ANYONE ELSE, ITS WRONG THAT WOMEN TRYING TO GIVE BIRTH TO OTHER WOMENS CHILDREN, AND ITS WRONG ON THIS OCTOMOM. THERE SHOULD BE A UNDERSTANDING IN CHURCHES JUST LIKE ANYTHING ELSE. TO MUCH EATING, TO MUCH DIETING, TO MUCH HOMEWORK, TO MUCH SLEEPING OR NOT SLEEPING ENOUGH, AND TO MUCH WORKING WHEN A LOVE ONE CAN NOT SPEND TIME WITH THERE FAMILIES . THEY SAY MARY WAS WITH CHILD AT 13. WELL THAT IS STILL TO YOUNG AND ALOT OF GIRLS HAVE DONE THAT BUT WE HAVE GOTTEN WISER THAT WE SHOULD WAIT BUT SOME PEOPLE STILL TRY TO BREAK THAT WHAT NOT TO DO. I SAY LISTEN TO ALL SIDES AND UNDERSTAND THAT EVN IF I WAS THAT GIRL NOW IT MIGHT HAUNT ME AND MAYBE NOT. BUT I AM OLDER NOW MYSELF AND I COULD NOT KEEP ANY CHILD IN ME IF I WAS TO GET RAPE BY A STRANGER OR A SICK RELATIVE IN THE HEAD. A CHILD CAN NOT ALWAYS BE BLAME BUT SOME TEENAGERS OR WOMEN ARE JUST ASKING FOR TROUBLE AND MEN THINK ITS OK LIKE ANCESTORS OR JUST ON PURPOSE TO PLAY.

Dave is clearly being tongue in cheek, I love how no one figured that out.

and yes, there is a verse in the bible that says a rapist must marry his victim because back then women were nothing more than property and these rabid pro lifers would like to keep it that way.

here’s the verse:

Deuteronomy 22:28-29

28 If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, 29 he shall pay the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

Yep. Classy.

She is a pretty young person to be pregnat.

SHE IS PRETTY YOUNG.I AM ONLY 8 YEARS OLD AND I’M NOT PREGNET.

A nine year old is a fourth grader in the US. Being raped is horrific; being raped by your father is adding insult to injury; conceving twins from that ordeal is tragic; having the media make this a debate for/against abortinon is absolute nonsense; and to add icing to the cake having the Catholic Church add it’s two cents is ludicrous.

The child needed the abortion. A nine year old cannot go through a 9 month prenancy without consequences (phycially and emotionally).

I have a daughter who is 10 years old and weighs about 87 lbs. She is a little girl and I couldn’t imagine her being pregnant right alone being pregnant with twins. This is a child we are talking about here. She has alot to deal with and it’s hard to tell how long she has been getting raped. I am a christian and in the bible it says that one of the things that God detest is the shed of innocent blood. I know you think I am talking about the abortion issue but I’m not. I gaurantee that a nine year old bleeds if they are rapped, she didn’t asked to be raped, she is innocent. She is still innocent the blood shed lays on the rappest that by the way I HOPE HE LEARNS WHAT BEING VIOLATED IS ALL ABOUT.All children go to heaven and at the age of 9 she will not be judged by God, Heaven is for the child like at heart. This brings me to think about my best friend who was murdered by her stepdad, he molested her for years no one knew she didn’t tell she was affraid with just cause because when she turned 18 he killed her because she moved out and had a boyfriend and he just snapped he said because he loved her. As you can see there is sick love and there is healthy love, and if you don’t love and if your heart doesn’t just break for this little girl, find God and quick. To the Catholic Churh who condims this child, go to confession and confess to The Almighty God in Heaven that You Need Jesus to come into your heart because you have a plank in your eye. Read The Whole BIBLE.

Only God can Judge this situation, but one thing that God detest is the shed of innocent blood, this nine year old was and is innocent she is nine and was raped, not by choice. She was raped and I gaurntee she bled. I am not worried about where she will go when she passes on but as far as the cattholic church that judged her goes I say go to God and confess not to the confessional and ask God to forgive you for the ignorance you have displayed when it comes to this child. And then read the whole bible don’t worry about a speck in someone elses eye when you have a plank in your own. As for this little girl may god bless and confort this sweet child, may god shield her from the hash and in just woorld that think they have a right to condem her. As for her father who rapped her goes I hope he learns all about how it feels to be violated.

So…so sad. Those poor babies. The step-father should be hanged, the 9 year old should have had her kids. and the mother should be slapped for marrying such a pig. The Twins should have been put up for adoption.

There is no excuse for murder….none…
2 wrongs don’t make a right. Child Rape + Abortion doesn’t = ok

I just want to thank Samantha twice, Virginia Mom, Kathleen, Carol twice, Joe B, Susan, Kansas, Diana, Brandy, Olympia, Elle, Rob from michigan, ColoradoMom, Kara, and Eilleen Swopes.

Your inability to read and comprehend properly has given me endless enjoyment. Let me guess, you also take the bible literally?

And once again, as a person who believes in God but knows not to confuse that with a need to believe everything his “followers” tell me, I implore you to actually crack open an old testament and look up the punishment for raping an unmarried woman “in the country” (because if she was raped in the city it means she could have screamed and therefore was asking for it). The penalty is you must marry your rape victim. That made sense to people when the Bible was written. The Bible also says Jonah lived in the belly of a whale. It says God tortured Job to prove a point to the Devil. It says rabbits chew their own cud.

Small children were not meant to have babies in a world where they can be safely aborted.

Comment by Pacifica; Hello to Jesus — last time we talked, you were an inpatient at the local psychiatric ward — good to know you got out — or are you using a hospital computer???

I once heard a wise (Episcopal) Bishop state that, yes, abortion is evil, but the greater evil is the society that makes a woman/girl feel that abortion is her only choice.

Finally, I’ve been in Brazil a couple of times, and let me tell you, the favelas/slums are full of children who were conceived, born, and abandoned by the men who gave them life. The lives these chilren lead are inconceivable to the average North American — to be a street kid in Rio means that your life will be “nasty short, and brutish.”

I am absolutely pro-life, but I would NEVER condemn anyone who has had an abortion, especially not a victim of any kind. I don’t believe in aborting a baby, but I don’t hate the people who do so. God’s law is higher than ours, yes. But His law is about love, not condemnation and judgement! We have no authority to judge people or cast them out of God’s house, as we have ALL sinned. How dare that church profess to know God, but turn those people out of His house?!

My prayers are with the victim and her family.

i really dont understand how most of you people could basically be behind the fact that this little girl shouldn’t get an abortion. i think you people are sick & over obsessed with the religion or over obessed with yourselfs personally. & reallyy. a 9 year old having a baby? shes only a little girl. either way she WILL BOTH BE TRAMATIZED. if you really think of it. all you people that are for this little girl not getting an abortion should really realise that your supporting a crime that a SEXUAL MOLESTER made! Things like this should by no means excepted. A MAN RAPED A NINE YEAR OLD LITTLE GIRL. what if it was your little nine year old daugther & she had to carry a baby(s) im a 17 year old girl whose seeen a lot of pregnancies through out my life & not even i can handle one…. at 17 what in the world makes you people think that a nine year could handle one.
i believe in karma.. what comes around goes around. honestly this church maks me sick to my stomach & i believe that this church is sinful. GOD WILL EXCEPT US NO MATTER WHAT WE DO. BECAUSE HE FORGIVES ALL. get that through your christian hearts. this is a nine year old girl i give alot of hope to her & her mother. shes gonna need it in order to make it right now. HAVE A LITTLE HEART PEOPLE. its not all about god you know, god gave us the right to live & live how we choose with that us being aware that he excepts those how they come.

i really dont understand how most of you people could basically be behind the fact that this little girl shouldn’t get an abortion. i think you people are sick & over obsessed with the religion or over obessed with yourselfs personally. & reallyy. a 9 year old having a baby? shes only a little girl. either way she WILL BOTH BE TRAMATIZED. if you really think of it. all you people that are for this little girl not getting an abortion should really realise that your supporting a crime that a SEXUAL MOLESTER made! Things like this should by no means excepted. A MAN RAPED A NINE YEAR OLD LITTLE GIRL. what if it was your little nine year old daugther & she had to carry a baby(s) im a 17 year old girl whose seeen a lot of pregnancies through out my life & not even i can handle one…. at 17 what in the world makes you people think that a nine year could handle one.
i believe in karma.. what comes around goes around. honestly this church maks me sick to my stomach & i believe that this church is sinful. GOD WILL EXCEPT US NO MATTER WHAT WE DO. BECAUSE HE FORGIVES ALL. get that through your christian hearts. this is a nine year old girl i give alot of hope to her & her mother. shes gonna need it in order to make it right now. HAVE A LITTLE HEART PEOPLE. its not all about god you know, god gave us the right to live & live how we choose with that us being aware that he excepts those how they come.

Such a tragedy all around. I will pray for this little child that she be saved in Christs grace. Shes gonna need it for having an abortion, as she will be going to hell for that unless she does.

Bottom line. Abortion is NEVER EVER RIGHT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE! EVER!

If this child where to die giving birth to twins. So be it. It is her duty as a mother to her children to die in thier place if that is gods requirement. Its a mothers duty to die for her children if need be. Even if your only 9 years old.

God is always right, and wise. He would have handled the situation just fine. If that includes taking the life of the mother, and both twins, so be it. It is sin for man to interfere in the divine plan of the one and only true God.

I will pray for this hellbound little girl to receive true healing in the name of Jesus Christ, the king of kings.

I will pray for the 2 little fetus, which where murder in cold blood.

The misinformation and the anti-Catholic bigotry I’ve seen is astounding. The Catholic Church did not condemn the survivor of these heinous crimes, as it is clear she was allowed no choice. (I’m using the plural here, as apparently, just as it was in the rape, she was also given no choice regarding whether or not to abort.) Rather, the Church’s official stand is that rape and adultery are mortal sins. That poor excuse of a man has cut himself off from the Church by even looking at the girl wrong, and, like anyone who has been excommunicated, he can only be restored to full Communion by repenting and making a good confession. Similarly, those who procured/forced the abortion are actually under no more severe a penalty.

Finally, I have to wonder about what makes people think an abortion at fifteen weeks is so much safer for a child than carrying to 22 weeks, particularly if the method for the abortion involved inducing labor or a hysterotomy.

And I have to wonder why it took this long for the mother to notice something wrong. I know some pregnancies don’t show, but I’d imagine a small, slim 9 year old 3 months pregnant with twins would have looked like she swallowed a football.

Hey Valerie

You missed one tiny little point. The aldulterous stepfather who raped and impregnated the 9-year old gets a free ride excommunication-wise. There are no plans to cut him off from the church.

Direct from the church’s spokemen – the rape of the child was heinous but not as bad as the abortion. Daddy stay’s in the church, only the people who actually gave a rat’s butt about the kid and her wellfare are out.

There may be a lot of misinformation out there about the RC church, but there just isn’t a lot of evidence that they take a real hard stand against pedophilia or rape (as long as nobody is homosexual, and even then, old church guys seem to get a pass).

When I think of how many of you probably decried the pre-emptive strike against Saddam Hussein were totally wrong but who think that a pre-emptive killing of these innocent babies was all right, and when I consider the number of you who would be against the death penalty for the rapist but who think it is ok for the innocent babies to be killed, I have to wonder whether logic still exists.

The poor child could have carried her children for a while, her life was not in imminent danger, and should her life or health become endangered, then a C-section could ahve been performed to give those two little babies a chance at life.

But no, someone had to go in and deliberately kill them.

I’m sorry, I see the loss of her babies as an additional trauma that this little girl will have to deal with.

Are there really people who blame the girl 1) for the rape, and 2) for the abortion?!? Church and law aside, that is sheer lunacy. The state and the girl’s mother allowed the abortion. If the church disapproves, that is okay for them. Would the doctor do something different knowing the side the church would take? I hope not. If the issue is truly right to life, what about the 9-year old’s right to life? Those of you in favor of the Church’s decision think the fetus(s) should have been saved. But you are willing to risk the life of the girl to save the babies. How exactly does THAT work? Now, for the person who says the girl will rot in hell … never mind, I can’t even begin to go there. My prayers are for the healing of this girl and the mercy of God on all those who have to live with the heart-wrenching choice to save the child already here. The Church acted so swiftly to condemn those who acted with pure hearts and good intentions. I wonder how actively the Church is pursuing the stepfather to gain his confession and save his soul.

Philothea,

I can respect your anti-abortion views but neither you nor I are familiar enough with the medical specifics of the case to say whether a C-section was the way to go. We do know that the 15-week pregnant 9 year old weighed 80 pounds. From a standpoint of blood loss alone, a C-section would have to have been dicey.

But the thing I really want to address is this belief that the child is being horribly deprived by not getting to have her babies.

She’s 9 years old. She’s poor. She’s about to get poorer because one of the people who was providing her and her disabled 14-year old sister with financial support is going to jail. She has diddly-squat chance of providing financial support for these children and the social safety net just isn’t there.
Face it, if this kid had a healthy home life and proper social support THIS WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED. So assuming the rosy outcome of everyone surviving birth, the whole family can starve together in shame. The whole stigma of unwed motherhood in a conservative Catholic country like Brazil is gonna do this poor child no good either.

I suppose they could have cut her open, ripped the babies out, and adopted them off somewhere. But that defeats the purpose of all those who claim she’ll be traumatized by not knowing what her precious babies look like.

The whole scenario sucks and there are no happy ending either way, but I can’t help believing the abortion was the best route for the post-born child in this tragedy.

I like how easy some people make it sound by saying she should of been allowed to carry the children, then have them prematurely, and it’ll all be great as long as she’s monitored by doctors. These people have no concept on what even the early stages of pregnancy would have on a child of her size and age, and it’s easy to sit in front of our computers and tell her that she should of kept them.

Why compound her suffering any longer? I highly doubt that when she thinks back to this period of time, she’ll be thinking about what her babies might have looked like. She’ll probably be thinking about how horrifying it was to be raped repeatedly by a man she trusted, most likely. 9 year olds can’t really even understand the concepts of pregnancy and abortion as it pertains to themselves. The chances of the babies even surviving to any point where they could be viable was slim to none, but that’s okay, let’s make blanket statements about what a 9 year old girl should do, and make her a poster child for some stupid political debate.

I’d like to think God would allow an exception in this case, and that He would want people to do everything they could to support her, including the Church–not to condemn her. Religion needs to learn to be flexible in extreme cases like this, and look towards helping those who have been victimized heal, not to judge those who are in impossible situations.

And for people saying she deserved to be raped–they’re trolling the board. Don’t feed them please

If those babies were allowed to live, when they would have celebrated there 1st birthday, whose life is more or less valuable? Theirs or a baby not conceived by rape?
Whenever a pre-born baby’s life is taken it’s murder. Everything else is just rationalizing your own conveniences.
Morality comes from God and abortion is murder.
May the God of all comfort give that girl peace from the trama of her step-father and the trauma to come from having 2 lives ripped from her womb.