Lina Medina, the youngest confirmed mother in medical history, 1939
In 1933, Lina Medina was born in Ticrapo, Peru. At the age of five years, Lina was brought to hospital by her parents who complained of abdominal extreme growth. The girl’s parents initially thought their daughter was suffering from a massive abdominal tumor, but after being examined by doctors in Pisco, Peru, they discovered she was seven-months pregnant.
Lina was born with a rare condition called “precocious puberty”. Precocious puberty is basically the early onset of sexual development. Most girls begin experiencing puberty around the age of ten (boys usually start a little later, around the ages of 11 or 12). Lina had experienced her first menstrual cycle at the age of two and a half or three. She had fully developed breasts by the age of four. Within five years, her body displayed pelvic widening and advanced bone maturation
Lina Medina officially became the youngest confirmed mother in medical history, aged five, seven months and 21 days. She gave birth to a boy by a caesarean section on May 14, 1939, necessitated by her small pelvis.
The child, weighed 6 pounds, was well-formed, in good health and was named Gerardo after the doctor who delivered him. Child and mother were able to leave the clinic after only a few days.
As might be expected, sexual abuse was immediately considered. The father of Lina was arrested on suspicion of rape and incest. He was released due to lack of evidence. Lina Medina never revealed who the real father of her child is, or the circumstances surrounding its impregnation. According to a 1955 article reviewing the case: “some have pointed out, there were frequent festivities celebrated by the Indians in the Andean villages like the one where Lina was born. These often ended in orgies where rape was not uncommon”.
Gerardo was raised believing that Medina was his sister, but found out at the age of 10 that she was his mother. He led a healthy life until 1979, when he died from bone marrow disease at the age of 40.
Lina Medina is alive today, but refuses to give interviews.
