The case caused an uproar in this traditionally Catholic country and overseas because authorities had refused to let the girl have an abortion. She reported there were no complications in the birth.
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“The mother is recovering well from the surgery”, Dr Mario Villalba told the local Radio Cardinal station.
“Only time will tell the true extent of the physical and psychological consequences of her tragic ordeal”, Erika Guevara, Americas director at Amnesty worldwide, said on Thursday. Officials in the South American country “decided to gamble with her health, life and integrity despite overwhelming evidence that this pregnancy was extremely risky and despite the fact that she was a rape victim and a child”, she said.
At the time the girl was raped, she was 10.
He was later arrested and on interrogation, denied raping the girl and demanded a DNA test.
After doctors indicated that the girl was pregnant, her mother requested an abortion but Paraguay, where 89% of adults are thought to be Catholic, prohibits the procedure unless the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother.
“In fact, given the stage of the pregnancy, it’s even more unsafe for the girl to undergo a procedure [to abort] without a well-considered medical, obstetrical evaluation”, Lida Sosa, a program director at the public health ministry, said in May.
“I was the one who reported all of this, asking for justice to be done and hoping that something would be done, but prosecutors dismissed the case”, she said in an exclusive interview with CNN en Español on June 25.
Her mother was subsequently released pending further investigation, and has spent the past 10 days at her daughter’s bedside, according to Elizabeth Torales, Mainumby’s lawyer. She says the minor gave birth to a baby girl via cesarean Thursday.
[The horrific child rape case that is tearing Paraguay apart].
“The baby doesn’t yet have a name”, said Torales, who added that her client and the girl’s grandmother requested custody of the infant.
According to a United Nationsreport, a staggering 2 million girls under the age of 14 give birth every year, many of whom suffer long-term and sometimes fatal health problems as a result. There was no comment from the Paraguayan government Thursday regarding the birth.
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“It is terrifying that her story will remain all too common unless Paraguay does more to protect victims of sexual violence, decriminalise abortion and guarantee the availability of modern contraceptives and access to information about sexual and reproductive rights”.
