[JURIST] A group of UN human rights experts said Monday that the Government of Paraguy “failed in its responsibility to act with due diligence” [press release] towards a 10-year-old girl who was raped and became pregnant. According to the experts, the girl has not been given treatments that could “save her life and preserve her health, including safe and therapeutic abortion in a timely manner.” She is now 23 weeks pregnant, a result of “repeated sexual abuse,” and unable to have an abortion as the abortion laws in Paraguay are “restrictive.” The experts said that this is a violation of “rights to life, to health, and to physical and mental integrity of the girl as well as her right to education, jeopardising her economic and social opportunities.” The experts also said that it is imperative that the alleged rapist be “duly prosecuted.”

Abortion is a controversial issue among predominantly Roman Catholic Latin-American countries. In 2012 Uruguay’s president signed a bill legalizing abortion [JURIST report] with certain exceptions. Also in 2012 the Brazilian Supreme Court [official website, in Portuguese] overturned a ban [JURIST report] against aborting brain-damaged fetuses. In March 2012 the Supreme Court of Argentina [official website, in Spanish] ruled that rape victims cannot be prosecuted [JURIST report] for seeking abortions. In 2011 Mexico’s Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish] failed to overturn [JURIST report] an amendment that stated life begins at conception, effectively banning abortions in Mexico’s northern Baja California state. Guyana legalized abortion in 1995.