An Argentine girl with learning disabilities, who became pregnant after she was raped by her uncle and who has been at the centre of a bitter confrontation between supporters and opponents of abortion, was this week told by the Buenos Aires provincial Supreme Court that she could have a termination.

The decision, which reversed the decisions of lower courts, was greeted with dismay by campaigners, led by the Archbishop of La Plata, Mgr Héctor Aguer, who had argued that such a procedure would mean sacrificing an innocent life, and was not acceptable in any circumstances. The Rector of the Catholic University of La Plata, the provincial capital, had offered to take care of the girl and even adopt her baby.

The mother and sister of the 19-year-old girl, known only as LMR, requested the abortion, which is permissible in extreme circumstances under Argentine law. The Supreme Court justices made their decision - by a six-to-three majority - after interviewing the girl last week. She was apparently raped almost five months ago. The majority ruled that the Court should never have been involved in the case, as the Argentine Penal Code authorises doctors to make a decision on whether or not to terminate a pregnancy when a "demented or idiot" woman is involved. The minority opinion was that the doctors' authority is overruled by international pacts and treaties, signed by Argentina, designed to defend the rights of the unborn child.

The case underlined deep divisions in Argentina over the abortion issue, with the Governor of Buenos Aires province, Felipe Solá, and the federal Health Minister, Ginés González García, rejecting campaigners' arguments against a termination. González García claims that there are 800,000 abortions a year in Argentina, most of them illegal, and he wants to make them more readily available. This caused public conflict last year with the Bishop of the Armed Forces, Mgr Antonio Baseotto (The Tablet, 5 March 2005).

The judiciary is also divided: a federal Supreme Court justice, Carmen María Argibay, publicly criticised the earlier decision of a provincial family court judge, Inés Noemí Siro, to deny permission for an abortion.

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