A 10-year-old Brazilian girl gave birth last Tuesday, hours after complaining that she had a stomachache. Neither the girl nor her family had any idea that she was pregnant, they say.
The girl, from Belo Horizonte in southeast Brazil, had a horrible stomachache while she was in class. Eventually, teachers rushed her to the hospital, where doctors found that she was seven months pregnant and in the late stages of labor. She gave birth shortly after, reports the Mirror.
The birth went normally, without complications, even though the baby was born premature. The girl and her baby are still recovering in the hospital.
“The mother alleges that she, along with other family members, hadn’t noticed, taking into consideration the child’s small frame,” Police Chief Captain Castro said.
After she gave birth, the young girl revealed to her mother that her 40-year-old stepfather abused her. The mother passed this information on to authorities, and the 10-year-old later told them that her stepfather threatened to kill her mother and brother if she came forward.
The stepfather, who had left the household, was arrested and reportedly confessed to raping the girl. Her mother told police that she started to struggle at school and became more introverted starting in October 2014. Authorities charged the stepfather with rape of a child and illegal possession of firearms.
The girl is lucky to have survived. According to Facts for Life, the younger the mother is, the higher the risk is that her pregnancy will cause complications. Girls who give birth before the age of 15 are five times more likely to die during childbirth than mothers over the age of 20.
Because extremely young mothers do not have a fully developed pelvis, pregnancy for them can cause various medical complications, such as eclampsia, premature labor, prolonged labor, obstructed labor, fistula, anemia, or death of the baby or mother.