Updated

I want to talk today about a recent story that caught my attention because of its tragic nature. It's the story of a 9-year-old girl in Brazil who got pregnant with twins after she was allegedly raped by her stepfather.

When this story first came out, a lot of people asked me how it was possible for a 9-year-old girl to even get pregnant. But the fact remains that once a female starts menstruating a• which can be as early as 8 years of age a• she is able to ovulate, and therefore, able to become pregnant.

The other question I was asked pertained the risks involved with having a pregnancy in such a young body. Now, there is very little data on pre-teen pregnancy, but there is a lot of data on teen pregnancy. And I can tell you from personal experience - these pregnancies can be quite risky.

Aside from the horrible psychological trauma that any young girl in this scenario would have to face, the physiologic changes that occur in a young person carrying a pregnancy could be quite dangerous to her body and to the unborn child.

Some of the risks that a pregnant 9-year-old could have include premature delivery, growth-restricted infants, uterine rupture and pelvic trauma.

Compounding the tragedy of this case, today we learned that the young girl aborted her twin pregnancy.

As I have said before in many of my blogs, children need to be protected. And adults that commit these kinds of crimes need to be severely punished.