Clashes over abortion for 11-year-old rape victim

ROMANIA:AN 11-YEAR-OLD Romanian girl who is pregnant with her uncle's child plans to fly to Britain for an abortion next week, regardless of today's expected ruling on her case by a government committee in Bucharest, her parents have said.

The family of Florina Vranceanu say she was raped by her 19-year-old uncle when she was only 10 years old, but she is legally barred from having an abortion at home because the baby is now 20 weeks old. Terminations after 14 weeks are allowed in Romania only if the mother is in serious medical danger or the foetus is badly deformed.

After a medical panel ruled against allowing an abortion because Vranceanu and her unborn child are in good health, an inter-ministerial committee was convened to make a final decision in the case, which has stoked bitter debate in Romania.

The committee is expected to deliver its verdict today, but Vranceanu's parents have already made plans to travel with her to Britain for a termination, which will reportedly be paid for by a Romanian businesswoman in London.

"Whatever is decided here in Romania it all takes too long - even if they agree to a law change, it will all take too long - and it's putting my daughter's life at risk in the meantime," said the girl's father Florin Vranceanu.

"We will take the UK offer and have arranged to fly out on Tuesday. The clinic is already arranged."

Florina's mother said the family could not wait for the outcome of yet more discussion of the issue. "Panel after panel, meeting after meeting. In the meantime, my poor girl gets more and more terrified," said Lacramioara Vranceanu.

"The last thing she needs is more talk. Thank God for the Romanian woman in Britain who has come to the rescue."

Florina's case has revealed deep divisions over the issue of abortion in Romania, which witnessed soaring rates of illegal terminations under communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who banned all forms of contraception in a bid to boost the population.

The upshot of his policy was tens of thousands of women rendered infertile by back-street abortions, and decrepit orphanages packed with unwanted children.

The issue has re-emerged at the forefront of social discussion in Romania because of the success of the award-winning film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days - which charts one young woman's grim search for an illegal abortion - and the story of Florina.

Her family say she was raped twice by an uncle who warned her that she would be beaten and disowned by her parents if she told them what had happened.

He has now reportedly disappeared from his home in eastern Romania.

Her pregnancy was discovered only when she complained of stomach pains earlier this month, when the foetus was already beyond the 14-week cut-off point for non-exceptional abortions.

After one official panel ruled that Florina should be allowed to have an abortion because of her age and the fact that she was raped, a medical board in her home region decided otherwise.

"The fact that the pregnancy stemmed from rape was not taken into account by the panel, for two reasons," explained Vica Todosiciuc, head of the Cuza Voda maternity section in the northeastern city of Iasi.

"One, because rape has not been proven. And two, because the penal code does not allow for any exceptions," he said.

"This was a very difficult decision for the doctors to make . . . They searched for a medical reason which would allow them to authorise a termination, but none was found."

Romania's Child Protection Authority has urged officials to allow Florina to have an abortion due to her having become pregnant through rape, and even the deeply conservative Orthodox Church has said that her family should be allowed to make the decision without being subject to external pressure.

Some 20 religious and anti-abortion groups have urged the government panel not to allow Florina to have an abortion, however, and some have threatened to press charges if ministers give permission on exceptional grounds.

Florina's plight carries echoes of Ireland's X case and that of a 14-year-old Polish girl, known by the pseudonym Agata, who had an abortion this month after being raped by a schoolmate, despite fierce opposition from anti-abortion campaigners.