baby feetThis story is enough to make a mother's heart shatter into a million little pieces. According to Mexico City police, a 9-year-old girl has given birth to a baby girl of her own. It's just too awful to wrap your head around.

The child was "just over 8 when she got pregnant," her mother told officials. "The father is a boy who is 17, but we have not found him, since he ran away." She was released from the hospital and is reportedly doing well ... physically. But her emotional state is an entirely different matter.

“We are looking for the young man to get his story because she does not understand what has happened. This is a rape or child sex abuse case,” said Jorge Villasenor with the state prosecutors' office. It's encouraging that they are seeking justice for this young victim; however, she has a long, confusing recovery ahead of her.

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It’s hard to accept, to be honest. Not that this is an entirely unheard of, albeit sickening, phenomenon. My mother, a therapist, worked with "at-risk" kids when I was growing up. I remember hearing about a girl who had a baby at 12 years old. I couldn't even fully understand what was happening to her since I barely understood what sex entailed until I was a teen. I was a late bloomer, I suppose. But in this day and age, those may not exist anymore. 

To have a baby by just 9 is unfathomable. But it's just not the act of sex that is so damn troubling. It's that this girl, who is essentially a baby herself, has to go through childbirth. Every single adult mother will tell you that labor is one of the scariest things she has ever endured -- and that is at an age when you truly understand what is happening and it's by choice. My heart goes out to this child who has to grow up entirely too fast.

Does a 9-year-old giving birth shock you?

 

Image via photo_gratis/Flickr