S'pore student gives birth at 9By the time she finds out she is pregnant, it's too late to abort.
Feb 28, 2007
AsiaOne
A nine-year-old Singaporean student, who did not realise she was pregnant, gave birth to a boy after it became too late for her to abort the baby.
Her horrified mother found out that her daughter was six-month pregnant when she took her to a doctor for what she thought was a urine infection.
By that time, it was too late for the girl to go for abortion.
The shocking case was made public at a seminar on youth relationships organised by Tamil cultural group Narpani Peravi and Republic Polytechnic last Saturday and was reported in Tamil Murasu on Sunday.
The primary three student, who comes from a well-to-do family and lives in a private landed property, was made pregnant by her boyfriend from the same school back in 2004. She gave her baby boy up for adoption soon after giving birth. The child would be about three years old now.
The girl was sent by her parents to a school in a nearby country, where she is currently in Primary Six. The boy was sent to a Reformative Training Centre soon after.
According to The New Paper, the girl met her boyfriend in school and they had sex frequently in her home. All these time, her parents never suspected anything as they were out and working most of the time.
And when she started gaining weight and had morning sickness, she didn't suspect that she was pregnant. Neither did her teachers and friends, as the girl always tucked blouse out so no one in school could tell if she was pregnant..
An early developer, she was about 1.3 metres tall and quite big-size for a girl her age. She reached puberty early and started menstruating when she was eight.
A gynaecologist and an urologist told The New Paper that it is very unusual for a nine-year-old to give birth.
Gynaecologist Ann Tan, who has 15 years experience, said she has never heard or seen any girl below 14 getting pregnant.
"This is very frightening," said Dr Tan, when told of the case.
She said that girls reach puberty around 11 on average.
Consultant urologist Damian Png, who has more than 10 years of experience, said boys usually reach puberty between 11 and 13.
Once a boy reaches puberty, he will be able to produce sperm, and in so doing will be capable of impregnating a girl. He, however, notes that the average age of puberty has gone down.
The youngest mother ever on record is Lina Medina from Peru. She was only five when she gave birth to a boy in May 1939. It was reported that she had her first period when she was only eight months old.
Her son, named Gerardo, died from a bone marrow disease when he was 40 in 1979.
