ROMANIA:A ROMANIAN government commission has allowed an 11-year-old girl - who became pregnant after being raped by her uncle - have an abortion on exceptional grounds, despite fierce protests from religious and anti-abortion groups.
However, it was unclear whether the verdict, which comes after heated debate in Romania over the issue, would persuade Florina Vranceanu's parents to cancel plans to take her to Britain next week to have an abortion.
Florina's parents say she was raped by her 19-year-old uncle when she was only 10 years old, but she had been legally barred from having an abortion at home because the foetus is now 20 weeks old.
Terminations after 14 weeks are only allowed in Romania if the mother is in serious medical danger or the foetus is badly deformed.
After a medical panel ruled against allowing an abortion because Florina and her unborn child are in good health, an inter-ministerial committee was convened to make a final decision in the case. "We are talking about . . . the rights of this child who was subjected to rape and incest," said Theodora Bertzi, a Labour ministry official who sat on the committee.
Health ministry official Vlad Iliescu, who was also on the panel, said: "the girl's mental health would be severely affected if she had a baby", before reading out part of a letter that Florina sent to the committee.
"I want to go to school and to play. If I can't do this my life will be a nightmare," wrote Florina, who Romanian media say has been shunned by schoolmates since her pregnancy was revealed.
Earlier this week, anti-abortion and religious groups urged the government panel not to grant her permission to have an abortion, and threatened to take legal action if she was given special dispensation. They also offered to look after the child if it was born.
In stark contract to its usual condemnation of abortion, however, the official Romanian Orthodox church hierarchy has not opposed Florina's request.
Church spokesman Constantin Stoica called her case "an exceptional situation which must be treated in an exceptional manner, and the family is the only one to take this decision".
Prior to the government panel's final ruling, Florina's parents said that its decision would have no bearing on their determination to take her to Britain next week for an abortion that is reportedly being paid for by a Romanian businesswoman in London.
In Britain, an abortion is legal up to 24 weeks 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.
It is not clear whether the commission's decision will be open to appeal or protest by anti-abortion groups, or will increase pressure on the government to liberalise Romania's abortion laws.
Ms Bertzi said the ruling was not intended to force a change in legislation.
About 530 girls under the age of 15 had an abortion in 2007 in Romania, and 2,000 girls in the same age group gave birth.
