Suffer the children

WHEN Pope Francis visits Paraguay on July 10th, he will find a controversy that he might prefer to ignore. A ten-year-old Paraguayan girl is currently 26 weeks pregnant after having been raped by her stepfather. Some six weeks ago she was taken to a hospital by her mother, who asked that she be allowed an abortion. But the Paraguayan authorities, backed by the Catholic church, not only refused her plea; they also arrested the mother as an alleged accomplice in her daughter’s abuse, although she reported the crime last year.

This appalling case highlights several of Latin America’s abiding ills. The first is child abuse. While the plight of street children and child prostitutes has received a lot of attention, most abuse occurs in the home. Although there is little data, there is no reason to believe it is less prevalent than elsewhere in the world. It may be more so. Bolivia’s ombudsman reported that 34% of girls suffered sexual abuse before age 18. Studies suggest that up to 36% of Latin American adult women suffer domestic or sexual violence.