9-year-old mother may be older, may be prostitute and may have been sterilized after birth
The headlines were packed full of sensationalized versions of the same story: A nine-year-old gave birth in Mexico to a baby girl.
Identified only as Dafne, appeared to be much older than nine and neighbors claim she works as a prostitute. According to the Daily Mail, there is yet another twist to this bizarre story: Mexican authorities ordered the girl to be sterilized after the birth, against the will of her mother.
photo of the newborn
Furthermore, there are claims have been made by neighbors against the stepfather, including that he has abused one of his own biological daughters and used to beat Dafne and share a bath with her.
According to Guadalajara’s Mural newspaper, the girl’s mother – who can’t read or write – didn’t even think that it was a crime that somebody so young having sex could be a criminal offence until she turned up at the hospital with her daughter in labor.
DNA testing is being carried out among all of her male relatives to confirm who is the dad amid extraordinary claims that the stepfather may even be the father.
The girl’s baby was born on January 27 weighing 5.95 lbs.
Original reports suggested that the girl was raped and authorities made these remarks: “We are looking for the young man to get his story because she does not understand what has happened,” he says, though he does add, “This is a rape or child sex abuse case.”
The Mail continues, reporting that Dafne has been dubbed ‘baby mother’ by Mexican newspapers, a pun on the term usually used to refer to the mother of a child, and not the fact she is still a youngster herself.
She has 10 brothers and sisters and is said to be doing well and happy that the birth is over. Dafne is also the ‘caretaker’ of her family – she does not go to school, instead spending all day in her home cooking and only venturing out to go to the shops.
Dafne is not, in fact, the youngest woman to give birth. Yelizaveta Gryshchenko gave birth to a stillborn baby at age six in the Soviet Union in 1934. Even more astonishing, five years later, Lina Medina from Ticrapo, Peru gave birth at the age of five years and seven months.
WHETHER OR NOT THE MOTHER GAVE BIRTH AT AGE NINE, IT IS POSSIBLE. A MEMBER OF MY FAMILY’S CHURCH [RURAL NORTHERN-MISSISSIPPI] GAVE BIRTH AT AGE EIGHT, DURING THE 1940s. A FEW YEARS AGO, MY MOTHER WENT TO THIS LADY’S FUNERAL AND SAW HER DAUGHTER – WHO WAS ONLY EIGHT YEARS YOUNGER THAN HER MOTHER.
CHRISTOPHER ALLEN HORTON