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Afghan Girl, 14, in Critical Condition After Razor-Blade Abortion
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090114.wafghan14/BNStory/Afghanistan/home?cid=al_gam_mostview
JANE ARMSTRONG
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
January 14, 2009 at 5:23 AM EST
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — In a country where many crimes against women are still swept under the rug, the case of a 14-year-old girl whose baby was allegedly aborted by her mother and brother using a razor blade has outraged doctors and human-rights workers.
The girl is in critical condition in a hospital at a U.S. military base after, officials said, her brother and mother lured her into a backyard shed, used a razor to cut her abdomen and removed the fetus.
The girl, who lived in a village in the central Afghanistan province of Bamiyan, was five months pregnant and said she was raped last year by a construction worker.
The pair stitched the wound with a needle and thread, according to Afghan police and doctors. They then buried the fetus. After four days, the girl developed a dangerous infection and her father took her to a nearby hospital, claiming she'd been bitten by a dog in the abdomen.
Doctors discounted the story as soon as they examined her wounds.
The case has made headlines in this deeply conservative country, where rape carries a huge stigma for victims and their families. Girls who are raped stand little chance of marrying and are often accused of consenting to sex. As a result, their families will go to great lengths to cover up the crime.
A doctor at the village hospital where she was first treated arranged for a quick transfer to the Bamiyan provincial hospital because he said he feared the girl's family might harm her.
"I was worried they [the parents] would kill her" to keep it quiet, said Ihsanullah Shahir, the head of the province's health department.
Abortion is illegal in Afghanistan except if the mother's health is in danger. Even in those cases, a panel of three doctors has to approve the operation, said Dr. Abdullah Fahim, a spokesman for the Health Ministry.
The girl was flown last Friday to a U.S. air base in Bagram, north of Kabul, Captain Elizabeth Mathias, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan told The Associated Press. Capt. Mathias said the girl was about five months pregnant when she underwent the "traumatic c-section" this month.
She was taken to the U.S. base because the smaller hospital did not have the equipment needed to repair the damage done to her organs.
The girl's brother has been arrested and has confessed to cutting his sister's abdomen with a razor blade. He said he acted alone, but the girl told a local doctor that her mother was part of the assault.
Police say the girl's mother faces prosecution but she has not been arrested because she lives in a remote area.
The girl's brother, Ali, told The Associated Press in a phone interview from prison that he regretted his actions. "I had thought it was simple," he said. Police have arrested the man accused of raping the girl.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090114.wafghan14/BNStory/Afghanistan/home?cid=al_gam_mostview
JANE ARMSTRONG
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
January 14, 2009 at 5:23 AM EST
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — In a country where many crimes against women are still swept under the rug, the case of a 14-year-old girl whose baby was allegedly aborted by her mother and brother using a razor blade has outraged doctors and human-rights workers.
The girl is in critical condition in a hospital at a U.S. military base after, officials said, her brother and mother lured her into a backyard shed, used a razor to cut her abdomen and removed the fetus.
The girl, who lived in a village in the central Afghanistan province of Bamiyan, was five months pregnant and said she was raped last year by a construction worker.
The pair stitched the wound with a needle and thread, according to Afghan police and doctors. They then buried the fetus. After four days, the girl developed a dangerous infection and her father took her to a nearby hospital, claiming she'd been bitten by a dog in the abdomen.
Doctors discounted the story as soon as they examined her wounds.
The case has made headlines in this deeply conservative country, where rape carries a huge stigma for victims and their families. Girls who are raped stand little chance of marrying and are often accused of consenting to sex. As a result, their families will go to great lengths to cover up the crime.
A doctor at the village hospital where she was first treated arranged for a quick transfer to the Bamiyan provincial hospital because he said he feared the girl's family might harm her.
"I was worried they [the parents] would kill her" to keep it quiet, said Ihsanullah Shahir, the head of the province's health department.
Abortion is illegal in Afghanistan except if the mother's health is in danger. Even in those cases, a panel of three doctors has to approve the operation, said Dr. Abdullah Fahim, a spokesman for the Health Ministry.
The girl was flown last Friday to a U.S. air base in Bagram, north of Kabul, Captain Elizabeth Mathias, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan told The Associated Press. Capt. Mathias said the girl was about five months pregnant when she underwent the "traumatic c-section" this month.
She was taken to the U.S. base because the smaller hospital did not have the equipment needed to repair the damage done to her organs.
The girl's brother has been arrested and has confessed to cutting his sister's abdomen with a razor blade. He said he acted alone, but the girl told a local doctor that her mother was part of the assault.
Police say the girl's mother faces prosecution but she has not been arrested because she lives in a remote area.
The girl's brother, Ali, told The Associated Press in a phone interview from prison that he regretted his actions. "I had thought it was simple," he said. Police have arrested the man accused of raping the girl.
