Argentinean unborn child is killed despite pleas for mercy

An unborn child has been killed in the Argentinean province of Santiago de Estero after two weeks of controversy in which a lawyer offered to adopt the child, and a woman conceived in rape plead with the grandparents to spare its life, reports Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, LifeSiteNews.com.

The abortion was performed yesterday in the Regional Hospital of Santiago de Estero on a young woman who doctors claim is mentally retarded and was raped by a yet unknown assailant. Although all abortions are illegal in Argentina, they carry no penalty in the case of mentally disabled women who are raped.

The deadly procedure was carried out despite the offer of 38 year old Dr. Lucian Pavo, a lawyer living in the province, to adopt and raise the child.

"The child condemned to death is completely innocent, isn't guilty of anything, and no one pleads for it," wrote Pavo in an open letter to El Liberal, a local daily newspaper. "To the contrary, those who carry out her legal representation are asking for its death, with the silence of prosecutors, of the district attorney, and of the priests."

"Don't kill the child, deliver it to the authorities, because there are many Argentines who can't have children, or give custody to me so that I can raise it, with the intervention of [the Ministry of] Justice," wrote Pavo.

Pavo was joined by a young woman who was conceived by the rape of her mentally-disabled mother. The woman, who wrote anonymously to protect her family, noted that her mother "thought of giving us up for adoption, but she never considered having an abortion. She never thought about taking the possibility of life away from us, even though she was mentally ill, she never thought of killing us, despite not wanting us."

"Many times, when she was seized by attacks of insanity she said ugly things to me,” continued the woman. “But, do you know what? I'm very grateful to her for having given me the chance to live, and for giving herself the chance to accept us and give us love. I love her because she is my mother, and I know that despite the fact that she didn't choose this, at least she had the courage to tell me what happened and I can share the pain with her."

Doctors reportedly retained a piece of the unborn child's body to enable police to compare the DNA to that of various suspects in the case.

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TAGS: Argentina unborn child mentally disabled woman DNA abortion pro-life

[02/10/2009]

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