I’ve been reading in the news about an eleven-year-old Romanian girl who has become pregnant by her teenage uncle.
Not surprisingly, the girl is now trying to get an abortion. The problem is, under Romanian law she’s too far along to get one. Her family had planned to take her to the UK, where they could legally get her an abortion, but now it sounds like the government in Romania is going to bend a little, which is good.
Some interesting things to consider:
1. The media is calling this “rape”. Well, maybe. I mean, most people would say that a teenager fucking an eleven-year-old girl must be rape! But we don’t know how old the “teenage uncle” actually is. What if he’s only thirteen himself? What if it was basically two kids fooling around and it went farther than they’d planned? Or, heck, what if it was exactly what they planned to do, just not with the result they’d expected?
I do understand that it’s more likely the teenager in question is older than that, and it’s not likely the sex was consentual. But it is possible, and I don’t like the fact that the media isn’t really giving us all the information we need here.
If it was consenting, it’s entirely possible that neither party involved realized birth control was needed. It’s possible for girls to become pregnant before their first period, after all. For a very good book on the topic, check out Skipped Parts
2. Notice in the article that the Romanian Orthodox Church is against this. They want the girl to have the baby and let them raise it. Well, that’s all well and good, except that eleven-year-old girls aren’t really made to give birth. The health risks to the girl would be tremendous. I find it sad, and unsurprising, that the religious would rather risk her life for the potential life inside her than simply back her choice to end the potential life inside her in part to save her own life.
3. At least Romania allows abortions now! That wasn’t the case under Caucescu, the bastard. Not only did they not allow abortions, they also didn’t allow birth control. What a hideous, awful country that must’ve been during Communism. It’s worth noting that the only person I’ve ever met who was younger than me and had suffered from polio was born and raised in Romania.
4. Please forgive the title. I couldn’t resist!
June 28, 2008 at 2:29 am
This story is yet another sad case in a broken world. I do find it interesting that you find all kinds of possible options and unknowns related to males age, or if there was consent, but that you seem pretty emphatic that there are no 11 year old girls in the world physically mature enough for the child birth process. We know no more about her physical size than we do the males age.
Peace
June 28, 2008 at 2:40 am
Thanks for the feedback!
You’re right about that point with what we know, though I hadn’t considered it from that angle. I suppose it is possible she is substantially more developed than the average eleven-year-old girl, though I always tend to assume mediocrity.
Meantime, interesting fact: The youngest mother on record? Five. See: http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/medina.asp
(please note, this comment was edited from what it used to be after I realized I’d read the comment I was replying to incorrectly)
June 28, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I can’t imagine that and eleven year old, regardless of how early she has developed, would be capable of birthing a child. Like most people I would of believed that, but I just read the link about a 5 year old mother.
Mind blowing stuff.
I’m not suprised to see the church sticking their noses into this and doing the customary job of not helping matters at all and just creating more problems.
Great site you have here, Sir. Thorougly interesting read.