A doctor who agreed to carry out an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim has been branded a murderer by an angry group of protesters.
According to local reports the girl had been raped by her uncle since she was six years old.
Abortion is illegal in Brazil, unless the mother’s life is in danger or in instances of rape — both of which are the case in this situation, as the child may not have survived giving birth at such a young age.
Nevertheless, shocking video shows dozens of protesters linking arms around the medical facility and roaring “Assassino” — murderer.
The horrific case has caused the hashtag #gravidezaos10mata (pregnancy at 10 kills) trending in Brazil.
According to PledgeTimes the victim, who lived in São Mateu, was brought to hospital by an aunt on August 8, who believed she was pregnant. A blood test confirmed she was three months along.
The girl then told doctors and social workers that she had been raped by her uncle for the past four years, but never said anything because he had threatened her with violence.
The courts considered the case (a petition to allow the abortion garnered 655k signatures) and finally granted permission this weekend. The details of those involved were not revealed, to protect their identities.
But far-right Brazilian politician Sara Winter urged fellow pro-lifers to protest, telling followers that doctors in the girl’s home state refused to perform the abortion so the government was flying her to Recife, even naming the girl, and the doctor who was due to perform it.
She claimed the fetus was actually five months along, insisting the girl’s life would be at risk if forced through the full “labor” of her 1lb baby; she insisted the girl should wait until six months, undergo a Cesarean and put the baby up for adoption instead.
She called on followers to “put your knees on the floor” for the unborn child; and they did:
The doctor tried reasoning with the group, telling them he had been instructed by the courts to carry out the procedure, according to video posted to social media.
But it fell on deaf ears; after being branded a murderer, witnesses claim protesters even tried to break into the clinic, before being broken up by police.
Afterwards, a group of mothers and members of the National Front for the Legalization of Abortion gathered at the hospital to show their support, and help guarantee the girl’s safety:
Critics of Winter, who is a supporter of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, and whose Twitter account is blocked here in the United States, accused her of doxxing both the 10-year-old rape victim and the doctor.
According to local news reports a judge ordered Winter to remove her posts naming the girl and the doctor; her Instagram post was deleted on Monday morning.
Sadly, the case is far from unique in the country: Brazilian Public Safety Yearbook figures quoted by the site claim that four girls below age 13 are raped every hour, usually by a relative.
In April of this year Rio Branco, a 10-year-old gave birth to a baby, two days before the father — a neighbor — was found dead. In December a 13-year-old girl from Coari died giving birth to her father’s baby.
While abortion is only permitted in the two extreme cases of rape and when there is no other way to save the mother’s life, Brazilian law dictates that the abortion is still a crime — only that the criminal (i.e. the woman) will not be punished.
