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Old 07-15-2008, 08:14 PM   #2 (permalink)
observer
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'A Romanian friend said she would fund their flights and I offered to pay for the termination at a Marie Stopes clinic, which I was told would cost £1,600 - more than the norm because it was an advanced pregnancy.
'At first, Marie Stopes said they could not help because they were unable to perform abortions for girls under 12, but a few days later I got a call saying they had received special dispensation - they didn't go into details about who it was from - to do the procedure. They also said they would pay for the termination themselves because they felt very strongly that they wished to help.'
At this point, more than three weeks after the pregnancy was discovered, the Romanian government ruled that Florina could have the abortion in Romania owing to the exceptional circumstances.
But Florina's family were persuaded by Roxana to take up her offer because, Roxana says, there were doubts among the Romanian medical profession whether the ruling was legal and there might be a difficulty finding a surgeon prepared to carry out the termination.
Furthermore, there had been suggestions that if the abortion was carried out in Romania, it would be by 'micro-Caesarean' - basically, the same operation as a normal Caesarean - a prospect that horrified Florina's mother.
Lacramioara and Florina flew to London two days after the ruling on June 29 and stayed with Roxana. An appointment was made at the Marie Stopes clinic in Ealing, West London, for the following Monday. Tests showed the pregnancy was progressing normally. The termination was set for the following day.
Arriving at the clinic that day, Florina and her mother were both extremely nervous. Their anxiety was compounded by having to meet detectives from Scotland Yard who wanted to take DNA from the foetus to be used in the case against Florina's attacker.
But there was an 11th-hour hitch. A form had to be signed by the Healthcare Commission (the regulatory independent health watchdog) before the termination went ahead.
A signature could not be obtained in time and Florina was sent away. 'It was very distressing,' says her mother. 'Florina was crying.'
The operation was postponed until the Friday, but Roxana took a call from Marie Stopes with another problem. They were having difficulty finding an anaesthetist.
'Eventually, they arranged for the termination to take place at King's College Hospital.'
Because the pregnancy was so advanced, the termination had to be done in two stages. First, Florina underwent a 15-minute procedure to make her cervix dilate and, five hours later, had a second half-hour operation to remove the foetus.
Florina's mother insisted she underwent a general anaesthetic for both procedures - normally, a local anaesthetic would be given for the first stage - because she wants her to remember as little as possible.
'The operation was a success, and when Florina came round she said she was hungry. So we brought her cheese and ham sandwiches and was then up and about and running around. She was discharged that day,' said Lacramioara.
'She has become more cheerful over the past few days but is still clingy. When she began lactating, we made a bit of a joke of it. We've been told to give her vitamin B6 - it's supposed to stop it for some reason - and it's not as bad now as it was.'
Today, mother and daughter fly back to an uncertain future. The DNA that should prove Florina's uncle's guilt unequivocally is on its way to Romania and the family are hopeful he will be convicted soon. If so, he could be jailed for 20 years.
After that, who knows? The family fears Florina will be perceived as 'tainted'. They are considering moving away, perhaps even to Britain, if Florina's father is able to find work here, so that the little girl can be given a fresh start.
Her mother's objective is simple. She will do everything in her power to ensure that the brutal event that destroyed her daughter's childhood will not blight the rest of her life.
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