A 10-year-old Indian girl was given an abortion which terminated her pregnancy of 20 weeks into gestation.The father of the child also happened to be her stepfather. Despite this fact, the girl's mother wants her husband set free from prison upon the very real, but appalling concern that the family has no other established means of support; she has three daughters, total:
“Please set my husband free," the mother pleaded, "these NGOs and activists promising big things will not take care of me and my children for life. They will go within two-three days. My husband will take care of us,”
The girl's mother initially disbelieved that her husband, fairly newly married after five years and the brother of her deceased husband, could ever look at any of her daughters with an "evil eye." To her dismay, her husband confessed to the deed:
"When he admitted, only then could I believe. I was shocked. He had been married to me for five years and I could see that he never looked at my three daughters with an evil eye.”
It may come as a surprise that India owns a notorious rape rate, numbering in at a whopping six crimes reported daily. Regarding this fact, it is not uncommon for the predators to force abortions on their victims.
The first judge, Abhilasha Kumari, refuted abortion as the solution, based on the view that the unborn child was also an innocent victim, "just like....its mother.":
"Whatever be the circumstances in which the child was conceived, whatever the trauma of the young mother, the fact remains that the child is also not to blame for being conceived. It did not ask to be born. The child is innocent, just like the victim, its mother.”
There is impressive honesty and courage in Kumari's words. Unfortunately, his pronouncement was turned down by the country's Supreme Court. It is unknown whether or not the girl's abortion was forced and the degree of the girl's consent in the matter concerning her unborn child. She is said to be in stable condition.
Prayers must certainly be said in this grievous case, for the young girl's psychological and spiritual well-being----as well as, should her stepfather obtain freedom, her physical safety. May India acknowledge Christ as Lord, and Judge Kumari maintain the sense of justice instilled in him and follow the guidance of the conscience given to him by the Creator of all.
