Mother happy after 10-year-old gives birth

Spain in shock

The baby was born last week in the city of Jerez de la Frontera, said Micaela Navarro, the Andalusia region’s social affairs minister.

Navarro told reporters the father of the baby is also a minor, and both the mother and the baby were in good health.

Her department declined to give details, including the sex of the baby, but said authorities do not consider this a case of rape and that no criminal investigation is under way.

Under Spanish law, having consensual sex with someone under age 13 is classified as child abuse, an official with the Spanish Justice Ministry in Madrid said.

But this particular case is complicated by the fact that the father of the baby is also a minor and it is not clear if he could be charged, the official said.

The girl’s mother, a Romanian Gypsy woman, says she’s delighted to have a new granddaughter.

And she says she doesn’t understand why the birth has shocked anyone let alone caused an international sensation.

Spanish authorities have released few details about the case to protect the girl’s privacy. But her mother told reporters that the baby’s father is a 13-year-old boy who is still in Romania.

The mother has identified herself only as Olimpia. She says it is their custom to allow girls to marry young even though that’s against the law in Romania.