Young Woman Fights For Abortion After Rape On Nauru

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A young refugee is still fighting for an abortion, months after she was raped on Nauru.

The young African refugee, known only as S99, suffers from epilepsy and was in the midst of an epileptic seizure when she was raped on Nauru.

The woman, who has reportedly been suicidal since the rape, requested an abortion. However, abortions are illegal on Nauru.

The Australian government paid for her to fly to Port Moresby in PNG. However, abortion is also illegal there, with anyone caught “procuring” an abortion liable for up to seven years in prison. As a result the woman has refused to go through with the procedure. She has also raised concerns that the hospital isn’t equipped to deal with her epilepsy, says the Sydney Morning Herald.

Her fears are not unfounded - last year a couple as imprisoned for five years after terminating a pregnancy.

The woman has requested to be flown to Australia for the abortion. Because she is more than 12 weeks pregnant, she can no longer have a medical termination and must undergo a surgical operation.

There has been no dispute that the woman was raped.

It is understood, reports the Sydney Morning Herald, that the woman was married at 16 to an abusive husband who later denounced her to militant group al-Shabab. It was after this that she sought refugee status in Australia.

However, the Department of Immigration and Border Control and the Commonwealth of Australia say the woman is not Australia’s responsibility.

The woman was transferred from Christmas Island to Nauru two years ago, and has since been accepted as a refugee in Nauru. There, she lives on a temporary settlement visa.

The woman’s lawyer, George Newhouse of the National Justice Project, says “All she is asking for is a safe and legal termination and the basic medical care which any young woman in Australia would receive and which she cannot get in Papua New Guinea.”

Last week The High Court issued an emergency order that Australia not move S99 anywhere but to Australia and not do anything that would cause her pregnancy to be terminated in PNG.

A decision on the case is expected by Friday.