A 13-year-old girl in Mississippi, USA, gave birth to a boy after being raped by a stranger – and then unable to get an abortion, according to a report in Time magazine.
The 13-year-old's mother, Regina, urged the girl to have an abortion, but was told the nearest abortion clinic was in Chicago — more than a nine-hour drive from their home in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
Regina said the cost of an abortion in Chicago was too expensive when considering the price of travel, time off work and the abortion for her daughter. "I don't have money for all of this," she told Time.
The 13-year-old girl, who goes by the pseudonym Ashley, discovered she was pregnant after her mother took her to hospital for uncontrollable vomiting. Regina noticed that Ashley was behaving differently, staying in the room, although before she liked to go outside to record dances on TikTok. After receiving blood that showed Ashley was pregnant, the hospital contacted the police.
Regina told Time that her daughter told her what happened: A man walked into their yard while she was making TikTok videos while her uncle and brother were inside and attacked her. Ashley said she did not know who the man was and that no one witnessed the attack.
After 39 weeks of pregnancy, Ashley gave birth to a son, whom they named Peanut. She told Time that the birth was "painful."
"This situation hurts more because it was an innocent kid doing what kids do, playing outside and it's my kid," Regina told Time. "It still hurts and it always will."
This shocking event is the latest in a series of horrific situations that have been reported since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade – a landmark US Supreme Court decision that ruled that the United States Constitution in generally protected the right to have an abortion. Since the ruling, 14 state laws banning abortion have gone into effect, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Në qershor 2022, Gjykata e Lartë rrëzoi vendimin me arsyetimin se e drejta thelbësore për abortin nuk ishte "thellësisht e rrënjosur në historinë ose traditën e këtij kombi”. Vendimi i dha fuqinë shteteve federale për të rregulluar çdo aspekt të abortit.
Raporte të tjera detajojnë se si gratë pothuajse humbën jetën sepse mjekëve iu desh të prisnin derisa jeta e tyre të rrezikohej për të kryer një abort - ose që shumë gra tani duhet të udhëtojnë distanca të gjata për të marrë çdo lloj kujdesi shëndetësor riprodhues. Rreth 25 milionë gra të moshës 15 deri në 33 vjeç jetojnë në shtete që kanë kufizime për abortin.
Mississippi, along with many other states that also ban abortions, technically makes exceptions for cases where the pregnancy is from rape or is life-threatening. But abortions performed under these exceptions are extremely rare.
In January, the New York Times reported that Mississippi made two exceptions to its abortion ban. The state requires that a rape be reported to law enforcement in order to qualify for a legal abortion. Even if an exception is made, the person must travel abroad to have the abortion if the state in which they live prohibits it.
