A few years ago in South America an 11 year old girl from an itinerant labouring family was raped by a farmer when she called to his home asking for water.
Some time later it was found that she had contacted syphillis, and when she was sent to the hospital she was discovered to be pregnant.
Unfortunately the doctors in the (church run) hospital chose not to tell the parents of her condition until it was legally too late for her to have the foetus aborted, even though they had come to the conclusion that she was was unlikely to survive the pregnancy.
The parents requested permission for an abortion to be carried out and were refused, both on legal and religious grounds. The local bishop told them that the girl should "embrace her martyrdom proudly".
Wisely, the parents found a humanist doctor who performed the operation and saved the child's life.
Words fail me too.
Jim Carroll