United Kingdom’s Judge issued a judgment regarding an 11-year-old minor girl, who was pregnant and as per the judge and local media reports, termination of pregnancy was in the girl’s best interest. The private hearing’s court documents that happened last month are now publicly released, and they revealed that the then 10-year-old, identified as AZ, was raped by a 14 year old boy she met online. As per The Independent, she was allegedly again raped by another 14 year old boy few weeks after her 11th birthday.
As per Fox News, London High Court judge Emma Arbuthnot also known professionally as Mrs. Justice Arbuthnot, said in her verdict, “She became pregnant after being raped by a 14-year-old she met on the internet when she was aged 10, on the 18th or 21st of May 2023. She was raped by another 14-year-old boy on the 11th of June 2023, but he did not make her pregnant.”
The Sun reports that the girl was 14 weeks and 6 days pregnant during this verdict and was “happy” with the pregnancy. The judge also said, “When the many risks of continuing with the pregnancy were explained to her, AZ said she was ‘happy’ to be pregnant and wanted to continue with it.” The judge believed that “Her views involved ‘naive magical thinking’ in her approach to the pregnancy.” AZ felt that the pregnancy made her feel “special” and AZ’s mother was in favor of her daughter’s stance.
The Sun reports that along with the judge a health board came together and made various declarations in favour of medical termination of pregnancy as the best option for AZ’s life ahead. A mental health practitioner was also taken in for greater spectrum of views who went on to suggest that she “lacked competence” to carry on with the pregnancy.
A team of specialists also highlight that this birth could cause serious implications and health risks to the girl if not terminated. As per all these suggestions, the judge also agreed and ruled for a Medical Termination of Pregnancy or MTP scheduled later this week.
The judge believes that AZ can get pregnant again after the abortion, even though she has accepted the idea of going ahead with MTP. The Judge says, “The risks to AZ are significant. I was particularly struck by the evidence about the impact of the size of AZ’s anatomy: whereas many adult women struggle with the pain of childbirth, a child of eleven is likely to have a much worse experience.”
Fox News says, “The mother made the telling point to the social worker that there was a risk that if AZ’s pregnancy was terminated, she would just go out and become pregnant again, and how for some reason the parents are unable to avoid this from happening again. Judge also ordered the investigating officers and health practitioners to collect tissue from the girl’s placenta for forensic investigation as part of the criminal trial regarding the alleged rape. While this has not been the first case, another case in February 2022 from Argentina saw an 11-year-old mother whose pregnancy was terminated as she could be “vulnerable” and at “high health risks” in the future.