Marta Maria Blandon and Lorna Norori: "we have successfully challenged two states"

Women's Health Journal, Jan-March, 2003

How did you find out about Rosita's situation, and what was the position of the women's movement?

Marta: We found out about the case of this nine-year-old Nicaraguan girl who had become pregnant as the result of rape through the Costa Rican press. Then a number of different positions began to be heard from sectors like the Catholic Church, service providers and Costa Rican government officials who were saying things along the lines of, "It is amazing how human beings are developing; now a nine-year-old girl can become pregnant," and that her parents were "excited at the prospect of becoming grandparents," etc. The fact that the pregnancy was the product of rape was only mentioned in passing.

Se we called together a group from Nicaragua's Red de Mujeres contra la Violencia (Women's Network Against Violence) to take action. We discussed what was happening with this family in Costa Rica and decided to go there. We got in contact with the Procuraduria de los Derechos Humanos (Human Rights Ombudsperson's Office), and we formed a commission to analyze the facts in situ. This commission was comprised of a representative from the Ombudsperson's Office, a representative from the coordinating body of organizations working with children, Lorna and myself. That was the beginning of a long story that I can sum up one sentence: neither the Nicaraguan nor the Costa Rican officials involved wanted this little girl to return to her country of origin.

How did you gain access to the Costa Rican authorities?

Marta: We never introduced ourselves as members of the women's movement or as feminists. We used other identities that were not threatening to these people who in a way had taken control of this family's life. Se we came as members of a high-level commission. I also introduced myself as a representative of Nicaragua's Comision Nacional de Lucha contra la Muerte Materna (National Commission Against Maternal Mortality) of which I am a member. Lorna came as a consultant and an expert in sexual abuse.

But the Costa Rican officials and the Nicaraguan diplomats in Costa Rica advised us to not take Rosita back to her country since it was "so poor." These officials promised to provide the family with all the material things that they needed: a house, food, medicine, work throughout the course of the pregnancy to assure that the "experiment" would be a success, that what was in Rosita's uterus would survive. This "offer" came from the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia (PANI, National Child Welfare Agency), the Caja del Seguro Social (Social Security Administration), the Procuraduria de los Derechos de los Habitantes (Inhabitants' Rights Ombudsperson) and the Costa Rican Ministry of Health.

However, when we spoke with the family, we realized that all of their rights had been violated: their right to information, to freedom, to be with their daughter. Rosita was a virtual prisoner. She was forced to stay in bed and told: "Don't stand up. Don't move. You can only get up to go to the bathroom. No, you can't play. Don't you realize you're a mother now? No skipping around, you could lose the baby!"

Rosita's parents are two young, illiterate Nicaraguan immigrants who also had to put up with the stereotypes of immigrant workers in Costa Rica: that they were delinquents, low-lifes, thieves. They were manipulated by the officials who told them that it was their duty to take care of two children now: they gave Rosita's parents baby clothes and magazines with pictures of newborn infants and of developing embryos.

They were lectured on the foods that Rosita should eat for a healthy pregnancy, but they were never told that Rosita could die because her body was not yet prepared for bearing a child. They were never given any alternative but bringing the pregnancy to term.

We witnessed the highest authorities of the National Child Welfare Agency tell Rosita and her parents that they had been blessed by God, that what had happened was a blessing from heaven and they had to accept it, and that surely this baby was going to be someone very important because it could be no random chance that Rosita had been chosen to experience the magnificent event of motherhood at such a young age.

What is the legal status of abortion in Costa Rica?

Marta: Costa Rica's abortion law is much more advanced than Nicaragua's. Article 121 of the Costa Rican Constitution states that abortion practiced with the woman's consent by an authorized physician (or nurse-midwife if a doctor is unavailable) is not a criminal offense if it is done to save the woman's life or health and cannot be avoided by other means. In other words, Rosita could have had an abortion in Costa Rica without fear of punishment.

What obstacles prevented Rosita and her parents from leaving the country?

Marta: We didn't have passports for them, and leaving the country clandestinely was very risky. So our strategy was to prove that we could take care of Rosita's family, and we finally were able to convince the National Child Welfare Agency to let us be responsible for the girl.