News that doctors performed a caesarean section on an 11-year-old rape victim has reignited a debate on Argentina’s abortion rules.

The girl became pregnant after being raped by her grandmother’s 65-year-old partner and had requested an abortion.

However, her request was delayed by almost five weeks, and some doctors refused to carry out the procedure.

Eventually doctors carried out a C-section instead, arguing it would have been too risky to perform the abortion.

The baby is alive but doctors say it has little chance of surviving.

The girl was 23 weeks pregnant when – after several delays – she was to have the abortion.

Local media report that the girl had been clear from the beginning that she wanted to terminate her pregnancy, telling officials: “I want this thing the old man put inside me taken out.”

Abortion is legal in Argentina in cases of rape or if the mother’s health is in danger, but in the case of the 11-year-old girl uncertainty about who her legal guardian was caused delays.