A 13-year-old girl has delivered triplets in the capital city of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo.
The
father of babies is a 61-year-old man who is currently hiding from the
police, as he would be charged with sexual abuse of a minor, if caught.
In
the interview to the local press, the young mother showed no regrets in
giving birth to three babies, despite circumstances. She added she was
happy with her three sons, naming them Samuel, Joshua and Jovanny.
Three
baby boys are currently in the intensive care ward of a local hospital,
as the births were premature. However, all of them have good chances to
survive.
The
age of consent is 18 in the Dominican Republic, yet it has one of the
highest teen pregnancies in the world: nearly 15 % of 15-19-year-olds in
the Dominican Republic are mothers, with hundreds of babies born to
girls under the age of 15 every year, according to ECPAT UK.
According
to Dominican laws, the offences of child abuse carry a sentence of
between twenty to thirty years and $2,000 - $10,000 fine