Report about Mississippi rape victim, 13, forced to give birth after being unable to get abortion garners attention

Published 9:55 am Tuesday, August 15, 2023

A TIME magazine story about a Mississippi girl who recently was raped and was forced to have the baby after she could not get an abortion in the state is garnering attention.

TIME posted the story about the Clarksdale teen on Monday.

According to the story, the now 13-year girl was raped by a stranger when she was 12. The stranger reportedly grabbed her from the yard and raped her around the side of the house.

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The girl, who knew little about how people get pregnant, did not initially tell anyone of the attack, and it wasn’t until she was more than ten weeks pregnant that she learned of her situation after being taken to the emergency room for profuse vomiting.

Family members said it was impossible to get the pregnancy terminated in Mississippi and surrounding states after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion last year.

Mississippi has an exception for rape in its law, but there are no abortion providers in the state to provide such services.

According to the story, the nearest abortion provider for the teen would have been a nine-hour drive away to Chicago.

The New York Post, The Guardian and other media outlets recently published stories in response to the TIME story.

Click here for TIME magazine’s complete story.