An 11-year-old Paraguayan girl who was raped by her mother's boyfriend gave birth today, a doctor said this evening.
The case caused an uproar in the traditionally Catholic country and abroad because authorities had refused to let the girl have an abortion, which is illegal in Paraguay except when the mother's life is deemed to be in danger.
In April, authorities ruled that the pregnancy could proceed.
The girl was ten was she was raped, and turned 11 in May.
She gave birth today by caesarean-section to a girl that weighed 3.5kg, said Dolores Castellanos, the doctor that monitored the child's pregnancy.
The girl has named the baby Milagros, which is Spanish for miracles.
The baby was born in week 37 of the pregnancy.
The girl will remain under observation for 72 hours, said Ms Castellanos, head of child and adolescent medicine at the Asuncion hospital where the baby was born.
Mario Villalba, director of the Red Cross Hospital, said the delivery "was like any other Cesarean, without complications, the difference being the age".
Asked if the child will be able to nurse the baby, Villalba said: "We'll see how she does as a mother."
The baby's father was taken into custody in May and is awaiting trial on rape charges.
He could be sentenced to between 12 and 15 years in prison if convicted.
The girl's mother was also arrested for neglect but allowed to visit her daughter during the pregnancy.
The case reverberated far outside Paraguay, with UN experts criticising the Paraguayan government for refusing to consider an abortion.
UNICEF said girls in Paraguay are not protected from sexual predators.
Amnesty International called on the government to repeal the country's strict anti-abortion law and said the girl was lucky to be alive.
Erika Guevara, Amnesty's director for the Americas, said the fact that the child survived "does not excuse the human rights violations she suffered at the hands of the Paraguayan authorities, who decided to gamble with her health, life and integrity despite overwhelming evidence that this pregnancy was extremely risky and despite the fact that she was a rape-victim and a child."
