Paraguay: Abused young girls must have access to safe and legal abortion - Hoofdinhoud

MEPs voted today on a resolution initiated by the ALDE Group on the legal aspects related to child pregnancy in Paraguay, calling on the authorities to ensure women and girls have access to safe and legal abortion, at a minimum, when their health and life is in danger, in instance of severe foetal impairment and in cases of rape and incest.

ALDE MEP, Beatriz Becerra (UPyD, Spain) says the situation is simply unacceptable:

"Does it really make sense to talk in the European Parliament about a ten-year-old girl, barely 1.40cm tall, raped by her stepfather and whose pregnancy was discovered by her mother five months later? "It does. This little girl is the incarnation and symbol of thousands of girls who year after year fall victim to rape and pregnancy, and who don't get the same attention and care everywhere. Denying these girls, who are victims of sexual violence and abuse, an abortion on humanitarian grounds, goes not only against International Law, as the UN says: it is also an attack on our own obligations as part of the International Community to provide them with integral access to health care, as stated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child."

ALDE Group's Vice-President, Sophie in't Veld (D66, The Netherlands), added:

"Refusing this girl a termination of her pregnancy is continuing the violence against her. Defenders of a total ban on abortion often use the term "dignity". Where is the dignity in forcing this girl, who was brutally raped by a grown man, to have his baby? Her body is too small to carry a baby and give birth, where is the dignity in that? They are taking away any future she could have had, they are destroying her life. I do not call this dignity. I call it torture, and inhumane,degrading treatment."

ALDE MEP, Gérard Deprez (MR, Belgium) says authorities in Paraguay should put more money in education to tackle this problem:

"I am glad we adopted this resolution. The situation of these girls in Paraguay worries me very much. The pregnancy rate among children is ten times higher than other countries in the region. Around 600 girls aged 14 or below get pregnant every year."

The origin of this problem lies in the lack of investment in education, especially in the case of young girls. Paraguay gives only 4 % of its budget to education, while its neighbours allocate between 7 and 8 %. This lack of funding diminishes the economic and social opportunities of young girls and increases their vulnerability.