Mike Huckabee Supports Paraguay's Decision to Refuse Abortion for 11-Year-Old

Former Arkansas governor and 2016 presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee has spoken out in defense of the country of Paraguay for refusing to allow an 11-year-old victim of rape go through with a late-term abortion.

While Huckabee described the case as a "terrible tragedy," he added that he didn't support the taking of an innocent human life.

"Let nobody be misled, a 10-year-old girl being raped is horrible. But does it solve the problem by taking the life of an innocent child — that's really the issue," Huckabee said in a recent interview with CNN.

Huckabee is referencing the case of an 11-year-old in Paraguay who became pregnant after being repeatedly raped by her step-father. While the girl's mother sought for her daughter to have an abortion, the country refused, as it only allows abortions if the mother's life is in danger.

By the time the mother discovered that her 11-year-old daughter was pregnant, she had already been carrying the child for 22 weeks, which would have made the abortion late-term.

While Huckabee has approved of the country's decision, some human rights groups, including Amnesty International, spoke out in support of an abortion for the young girl.

"The physical and psychological impact of forcing this young girl to continue with an unwanted pregnancy is tantamount to torture," Guadalupe Marengo, deputy director for the Americas at Amnesty International, previously said in a statement. "The Paraguayan authorities cannot sit idly by while this young rape survivor is forced to endure more agony and torment."