A Colombian health insurance company was fined for denying a 13-year old rape victim an abortion.
According to the Superintendent of Health, insurance company EPS Coomeva will have to pay the girl US$200,000 for denying to end the pregnancy that was the result of rape.
The Cucuta girl and her mother had requested authorization for the abortion in 2007, which was refused by seven different health insurance companies. Despair over the pregnancy and the refusal to allow an abortion led the girl to several suicide attempts, newspaper El Espectador reported on Monday.
Abortion in Colombia is illegal, except in cases of rape or if the pregnancy causes life-threatening complications.