Anger at judge forbidding abortion for pregnant 11-year-old rape victim – World News

Judge Joana Ribeiro Zimmer is now under investigation after the family applied to the court to have their baby daughter aborted in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina

A judge has sparked outrage after barring a raped 11-year-old girl from having an abortion.

The child was told he could not end the pregnancy during the fall in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina.

Judge Joana Ribeiro Zimmer is now under investigation.

The girl who was attacked earlier this year went with her mother to try and get the abortion when she was 22 weeks pregnant.

She was made by Dr. Polydoro Ernani de Sao Thiago, associated with the University of Santa Catarina. But the paramedic informed them that abortions were illegal in Brazil and that they needed a court order.

Rape victims are required to attend a hearing, but the lawsuit was reportedly dismissed.

The case reached Judge Zimmer, who reportedly told the court that if the mother wanted to protect her daughter, she would not “put her on the charge of manslaughter.”

The court said in a statement that it had “initiated a request for administrative action to properly clarify the facts.”

The organization IPAS, which campaigns for abortion rights in Brazil, says: “Because Brazilian law only allows abortions in cases of rape, fetal anencephaly or danger to life, the country’s health ministry reported only 1,626 legal abortions in a country of 203 million people in 2012.

“Yet an estimated one million Brazilian women have abortions every year. Many of these women, particularly those who do not have the financial or social resources to seek out a well-trained, willing provider, are taking a huge legal risk when they decide to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

“The physical consequences can also be devastating.”

The case continues.

Earlier this month, the premature baby of a 12-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by her grandfather in Bolivia died after the girl was denied an abortion.

The man is being held in custody in San Pedro de Sacaba prison.