Decision due over UK abortion bid by Romanian girl, 11

The Romanian government will decide today whether to allow an 11-year-old Romanian girl to travel to Britain for an abortion.

The girl, who claims she was raped by her 19-year-old uncle, is 20 weeks pregnant – which is beyond the 14 weeks legal limit for abortion in her own country.

The Romania case has similarities with Ireland, particularly the so-called 'X' case.

The UK has one of the highest legal limits for abortion in Europe at 24 weeks.

A Romanian government committee will make a decision on whether the girl can travel to Britain for a termination or whether she must continue with the pregnancy. A Romanian living in Britain has offered to meet the costs.

The girl’s parents discovered she was pregnant earlier this month after they took her to a doctor because she appeared unwell.

She told doctors she had been raped by her uncle, who has since disappeared.

In Romania, abortions can be carried out after 14 weeks only to save the life of the mother.

An abortion is legal up to 24 weeks in Britain if two doctors decide that the risk to a woman’s physical or mental health will be greater if she continues with the pregnancy than if she ends it.

Debate about the girl’s situation has sparked a protest among church groups in Romania.

Twenty pro-life Christian Orthodox groups urged the government committee not to allow her to travel to Britain and threatened to press charges if the girl was allowed to have a termination in Romania on exceptional grounds.

In contrast, the official stand of the Romanian Orthodox Church was that the decision should be left to the girl’s family.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said she could not discuss individual cases.

In a statement, she said: “Where a patient seeks termination of pregnancy and is liable for charges but unable to pay in advance the hospital may decline to provide the service and should advise the woman to seek termination in her own country.

“The only exception to this is where the woman’s life is at risk. In these circumstances the termination should take place.

“The patient remains liable for charges and the debt should be pursued in the normal way.”

The statement added that “women from an EEA (European Economic Area) country and Switzerland or non-EEA bilateral healthcare agreement countries who come to the UK specifically to seek terminations will be liable for charges unless they have either; for EEA nationals, obtained an authorised form E112 from their own health institutions or, for non-EEA bilateral healthcare agreement countries, been specifically referred for treatment under the terms of the agreement”.

Josephine Quintavalle, from the Pro-Life Alliance, said that an abortion could add to the girl’s trauma.

“It’s a very traumatic situation and we have the greatest compassion for this poor girl, but we do not think an abortion at 20 weeks will do anything to help her,” she said.

“What people are trying to do is help a girl who has been raped.

“Certainly she has to be helped and cared for, but an abortion is not going to help her deal with the trauma of the rape. The great concern is that it would add to her trauma.

“We believe a better solution would be for her to be allowed to continue with the pregnancy and perhaps talk about adoption.”

Earlier this month, official UK figures showed the number of abortions, including among young girls, has hit a record high.

Last month, British MPs rejected calls to lower the upper time limit for abortion.

It remains at 24 weeks after they turned down several proposals, ranging from 12 to 22 weeks.