Lina Medina

Lina Medina was born in 1933 in Ticrapo, Castrovirreyna Province, Peru,{{cite news|title=Six decades later, world's youngest mother awaits aid |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1020827/asp/foreign/story_1140311.asp |work=The Telegraph |location=Kolkata |date=27 August 2002 |access-date=14 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722030008/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1020827/asp/foreign/story_1140311.asp |archive-date=22 July 2009 |url-status=dead }} to parents Tiburelo Medina, a silversmith, and Victoria Losea.Elgar Brown (for Chicago Evening American). "American scientists await U.S. visit of youngest mother: Peruvian girl and baby will be exhibited". San Antonio Light, 11 July 1939, page 2A. She was one of nine children.

Her parents took her to a hospital in Pisco at age five due to increasing abdominal size.{{Cite web |url=https://www.historychannel.com.au/articles/5-year-old-gives-birth/ |title=5-Year-Old Gives Birth: 14 May 1939 |work=History Channel Australia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416000756/https://www.historychannel.com.au/articles/5-year-old-gives-birth/ |archive-date=16 April 2019 |url-status=dead |access-date=27 July 2020 }} Doctors originally thought she had a tumor but then determined that she was in her seventh month of pregnancy. Dr. Gerardo Lozada had specialists in Lima confirm the pregnancy.{{cite web |first=David |last=Mikkleson |title=Youngest Mother|website=Snopes|access-date=25 January 2017 |url=http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/medina.asp |date=7 February 2015}}

There was widespread interest in the case. The San Antonio Light newspaper in Texas reported in its 16 July 1939 edition that a Peruvian obstetrician and midwife association had demanded she be admitted to a national maternity hospital, and quoted reports in the Peruvian paper La Crónica that an American film studio had sent a representative "with authority to offer the sum of $5,000 to benefit the minor" in return for filming rights, but "we know that the offer was rejected".Elgar Brown (for Chicago Evening American). "Wide sympathy aroused by plight of child-mother: opportunity seen to make Lina independent". San Antonio Light, 16 July 1939, p. 4. The article noted that Lozada had made films of Medina for scientific documentation and had shown them while addressing Peru's National Academy of Medicine. Some of the films had fallen into a river on a visit to the girl's hometown, but enough remained to "intrigue the learned savants".

Six weeks after the diagnosis, on 14 May 1939, Medina gave birth to son Gerardo by caesarean section. She was 5 years, 7 months, and 21 days old, the youngest person in history to give birth. The caesarean birth was necessitated by her small pelvis. The surgery was performed by Lozada and Dr. Busalleu, with Dr. Colareta providing anaesthesia. The doctors found she had fully mature sexual organs from precocious puberty. Dr. Edmundo Escomel reported her case in the medical journal La Presse Médicale, including that her menarche had occurred at eight months of age, in contrast to previous reports that she had had regular periods since the age of three{{cite book|title=The Curse: A Cultural History of Menstruation|year=1988|author1=Janice Delaney|author2=Mary Jane Lupton|author3=Emily Toth|isbn=0-252-01452-9|page=51|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=njfQfrMr31EC&q=Lina+Medina|edition=2nd revised|publisher=University of Illinois Press|access-date=22 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190724231759/https://books.google.com/books?id=njfQfrMr31EC&q=Lina+Medina#v=snippet&q=Lina%20Medina&f=false|archive-date=24 July 2019|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=Rodney P. Shearman|title=Clinical reproductive endocrinology|year=1985|publisher=Churchill Livingstone|isbn=0-443-02645-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/clinicalreproduc0000unse/page/401 401]|quote=In a number of instances, precocious pregnancies at a very early age have been reported. The striking example is that of Lina Medina, who had a Caesarean section when 5{{citefrac|1|2}} years old, but there have been other pregnancies in children aged 6, 7, 8 and 9 years (Sickel, 1946).|url=https://archive.org/details/clinicalreproduc0000unse/page/401}} or two and a half.

Gerardo weighed {{convert|2.7|kg|lb st|abbr=on}} at birth and was named after Lina's doctor. Gerardo was raised believing Medina to be his sister before finding out at age 10 that she was his mother. After initially remaining with the family, Lozada was allowed to take custody of Gerardo at Lozada's home in Lima. Subsequently, he employed Lina at his clinic in Lima (where she also resided), though Lina was only able to see Gerardo occasionally.{{cite news |last1=Leon |first1=Luis |title=Caesarean at age 5: 'Witchcraft Mother,' Son Grow Up Quietly |url=https://archive.org/details/independent-press-telegram-1955-10-30/page/n152/ |access-date=25 September 2022 |newspaper=Independent Press Telegram |date=30 October 1955 |at=p. A-4, col 2}} Gerardo soon grew up healthy, but died in 1979 at the age of 40 from bone marrow disease.{{Cite web |url=https://aventurasnahistoria.uol.com.br/noticias/reportagem/historia-lina-medina-gravida-5-anos.phtml |title=Grávida aos 5 anos: A trágica vida de Lina Medina |trans-title=Pregnant at 5: The Tragic Life of Lina Medina |first=Thiago |last=Lincolins |work=Aventuras na História |language=pt |date=12 October 2019 |access-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015014744/https://aventurasnahistoria.uol.com.br/noticias/reportagem/historia-lina-medina-gravida-5-anos.phtml |archive-date=15 October 2019 |url-status=live }}

According to Peruvian law, the mere fact of Medina's pregnancy meant that she had been raped at some point before her fifth birthday. Medina has never revealed the identity of the father nor the circumstances of her impregnation. Escomel suggests that she might not know herself, as she "couldn't give precise responses". Lina's father was arrested on suspicion of child sexual abuse but released due to lack of evidence.

In young adulthood, Medina worked as a secretary in the Lima clinic of Lozada, which gave her an education and helped put her son through high school.{{cite news |last1=Leon |first1=Luis |title=Caesarean at Age 5: 'Witchcraft Mother,' Son Grow Up Quietly |url=https://archive.org/details/independent-press-telegram-1955-10-30/page/n152/ |access-date=January 10, 2023 |work=Independent Press Telegram |agency=AP |via=Internet Archive Digital Library |date=October 30, 1955}}{{cite news |last1=Feldman |first1=Robert |title=She became mother at five (thought she had a doll) |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/75998355 |access-date=25 September 2022 |work=Perth Mirror |date=3 December 1955 |via=Trove}} She married and had a second son in 1972.{{Cite web|title=On this day In History: May 14, 1939 – The youngest 'mother' was born|url=https://www.freepressjournal.in/cmcm/on-this-day-in-history-may-14-1939-the-youngest-mother-was-born|access-date=24 July 2021|website=Free Press Journal|language=en}} In 2002, she refused an interview with Reuters, just as she had turned away many reporters in years past.

Although it was speculated that the case was a hoax, a number of doctors over the years have verified it based on biopsies, X-rays of the fetal skeleton in utero, and photographs taken by the doctors caring for her.{{cite book|title=The Journal of Medical-physical Research: A Journal of Progressive Medicine and Physical Therapies, Volumes 15–16|year=1941|publisher=American Association for Medico-Physical Research|page=188|quote=Lina Medina... Dear Dr. Eales: 'We are pleased to give you permission to publish the story of Lina Medina' ... An x-ray examination revealed a foetal skeleton and left no doubt as to a positive uterine gestation.}}{{cite book|author=Ashley Montagu|author-link=Ashley Montagu|title=The reproductive development of the female: a study in the comparative physiology of the adolescent organism|year=1979|publisher=PSG Publishing Company|isbn=0-88416-218-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/reproductivedeve0000mont/page/137 137]|url=https://archive.org/details/reproductivedeve0000mont/page/137}}

There are two published photographs documenting the case. The first was taken around the beginning of April 1939, when Medina was seven and a half months into pregnancy. Taken from her left side, it shows her standing naked in front of a neutral backdrop. It is the only published photograph taken during her pregnancy.{{cite journal|url=http://www.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/histoire/medica/resultats/?cote=100000x1939xartorig&p=878&do=page|journal=La Presse Médicale|volume=47|issue=43|page=875|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170327080641/http://www.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/histoire/medica/resultats/?cote=100000x1939xartorig&p=878&do=page|archive-date=27 March 2017|title=La Plus Jeune Mère du Monde|date=31 May 1939}}

{{Portal|Peru|Biography}}

• {{annotated link|Erramatti Mangamma}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal|last=Escomel|first=Edmundo|journal=La Presse Médicale|title=La Plus Jeune Mère du Monde|volume=47|date=13 May 1939|page=744|issue=38}}
• {{cite journal|last=Escomel|first=Edmundo|journal=La Presse Médicale|title=La Plus Jeune Mère du Monde|volume=47|date=31 May 1939|page=875|issue=43}}
• {{cite journal|last=Escomel|first=Edmundo|journal=La Presse Médicale|title=L'ovaire de Lina Medina, la Plus Jeune Mère du Monde|volume=47|date=19 December 1939|pages=1648|issue=94}}
• {{cite journal|journal=Los Angeles Times|title=Five-and-Half-Year-old Mother and Baby Reported Doing Well|date=16 May 1939|page=2}}
• {{cite journal|journal=Los Angeles Times|title=Physician Upholds Birth Possibility|date=16 May 1939|pages=2}}
• {{cite journal|journal=Imperial Valley Press|title=American Surgeon Backs Up Story of Girl-Mother|date=18 May 1939|at=p. 8 col 4 |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92070146/1939-05-18/ed-1/seq-8}}
• {{cite journal|journal=The Skyland Post (West Jefferson, N.C.)|title=Indian Girl, 5, Becomes Mother; Both Resting Well|date=19 May 1939|at=p. 5 col 5|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92073203/1939-05-18/ed-1/seq-5/#date1=1936&sort=date&date2=1940&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&index=3&words=Girl+Mother+Peru&proxdistance=50&state=&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=peru+girl+mother&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1}}
• {{cite journal|journal=The New York Times|title=U.S. Health Official Returns from Peru|date=15 November 1939|page=9}}
• {{cite journal|journal=The New York Times|title=Mother, 5, to Visit Here|date=8 August 1940|page=21}}
• {{cite journal|journal=The New York Times|title=Wife of Peruvian Envoy Arrives to Join Him Here|date=29 July 1941|page=8}}
• {{cite journal|journal=The Hamilton Spectator|publisher=Spectator Wire Services|title=The Mother Peru Forgot|date=23 August 2002|page=B4}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Medina, Lina}}

Category:Peruvian children

Category:Precocious puberty and pregnancy

Category:Child sexual abuse in Peru

Category:People from the Department of Huancavelica

Category:1933 births

Category:Living people