Judge Refuses To Let 11-Year-Old Rape Victim Get An Abortion

A Brazilian judge is under investigation after she refused to allow an 11-year-old rape victim to have an abortion.

The child was ordered to be kept at a shelter to ensure she doesn't undergo the procedure.

The unidentified minor girl became pregnant after being raped in her family's home. When her mother found out about it, she took the child to a hospital in Santa Catarina state last month, the New York Post reported.

After inspecting the girl, doctors refused to perform an abortion because she was more than 22 weeks pregnant.

Abortions are illegal in Brazil and are only permitted if the individual is a rape victim or if the pregnancy poses a threat to the person's life.

The 11-year-old girl was denied an abortion because of the hospital's rules, which state that the procedure can only be performed within the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.

The case eventually reached Judge Joana Ribeiro Zimmer, who ruled that the girl cannot have an abortion because she was already too far along in her pregnancy.

The girl was initially taken to a shelter to protect her from further abuse, The Intercept reported. The judge later said there was another reason for shifting the child to the shelter. She claimed it was to avoid the "risk" of the girl carrying out "some procedure to operate on the death of the baby."

The outlet also shared a conversation between Judge Ribeiro and the child:

Judge: What are your expectations for the baby? Do you want to see him born?

Child: No.

Judge: Do you think your condition interferes with your study?

Girl: Yea.

Judge: Want to choose the baby's name?

Girl: No

"Today, there is technology to save the baby. And we have 30,000 couples who want the baby, who accept the baby. This sadness today for you and for her daughter is the happiness of a couple," Ribeiro told the victim's mother during a hearing.

"It's a happiness, because they are not experiencing what I am," the mother responded, according to the outlet.

The Court of Justice of Santa Catarina is looking into the judge's ruling that stopped the child from having an abortion.