Palm-sized Baby Among the World’s Smallest
At birth, Melinda Star Guido was so tiny she could fit into the palm of her doctor's hand. She is among the smallest babies ever born in the world.
The mother of a 9-year-old who gave birth in Mexico claims her young daughter was sterilized without permission by doctors at the hospital after delivering the baby.
Meanwhile, police say they are investigating whether the young girl was sexually abused by her stepfather, who has fled since the birth.
The child-mom, named Dafne, gave birth via C-section in Guadalajara, Jalisco, on January 27, but the birth became public on Wednesday. The young mom and baby are at home and in good health, doctors said.
But Dafne’s mother has reported the Zoquipan Hospital in Guadalajara to the local human rights commission, CEDHJ, for allegedly sterilizing her daughter without consent, according to a report in the British website Daily Mail.
Enrique Rábago Solorio, the hospital director, denies that doctors sterilized the 9-year-old or inserted any kind of birth control, including an implant.
“We deny that we put an intrauterine device (IUD) in her, what we did was to protect the child and her health and with prior counseling and approval placed a subdermal implant,” he said in an interview with Milenio.
An IUD would be a more long-term birth control method, compared to month-by-month treatments.
Dafne – who was 8 when she became pregnant – has said the father of the baby is a 17-year-old who abandoned her. But police aren’t convinced and are conducting their own investigation that centers on Dafne’s mother and stepfather.
Dafne’s mother told Guadalajara’s Mural newspaper that she didn’t know it was a crime for someone so young to have sex. It wasn't until she arrived at the hospital with her daughter that she was aware it was illegal.
The girl’s neighbors in a poor suburb of Guadalajara called Colonial Los Olivos claim the stepfather sexually abused one of his own biological daughters and used to beat Dafne and share a bath with her, according to the Daily Mail. Neighbors also claim the girl’s mother, in her early 40’s, is a prostitute who was trying to recruit Dafne into becoming a sex worker.
A stepfather’s relative told the British publication that the stepfather and mother are “both liars” and that “the girl’s mother is in love with him so she protects him, and this is what happens.”
Under Mexican law, it is illegal to have sex with anyone under 15.
State prosecutor, Tomás Coronado Olmos, told Milenio they are investigating the mother for not informing authorities sooner about her 9-year-old pregnant daughter.
"There is an irregularity about the mom's story from the moment she learned that her daughter was pregnant and didn’t tell authorities," the prosecutor told Milenio, adding that, so far, the family of the girl has not filed a criminal complaint to the Attorney General of the State of Jalisco.
The state prosecutor's office said they are considering the case as a rape or child sex abuse case.
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