The Catholic Church in Ireland yesterday described as tragic the fact that a 12-year-old girl had to resort to getting money from a fund set up by a cardinal in Scotland to support her during her pregnancy.
`It's a very unsatisfactory state of affairs that this kind of measure is necessary to safeguard a pregnancy, especially that of a girl of such tender years," said Mr Des Cryan, of the Catholic Press and Information Office.
The Daily Mail reported that the girl had been strongly advised to undergo a termination in view of her age. But her unemployed parents, who live in England, contacted the church which runs a scheme to support pregnant women as an alternative to abortion and were offered financial help if she chose to go ahead with the birth.