Rio de Janeiro  - The Catholic Church on Thursday excommunicated the mother of a 9-year-old girl who had an abortion after being raped by her stepfather.

Brazilian Archbishop Jose Gomes Sobrinho also excommunicated the doctors who performed the procedure ending the girl's pregnancy with twins.

Abortion is illegal in predominantly Catholic Brazil, but the law admits exceptions, allowing it in cases of rape and pregnancies that put the mother's life at risk.

According to the head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Olinda and Recife in northeastern Brazil, all the people involved in the termination of the pregnancy on Wednesday, had committed "a serious crime," more specifically "homicide against two innocent lives."

The religious leader said the sanction also applies to members of feminist organizations that supported the abortion, and only excludes the girl herself.

Gomes Sobrinho, who belongs to the most conservative sector within the Brazilian Roman Catholic Church, said those who have been excommunicated will not be allowed to take communion or to receive other sacraments, although they may yet avoid going to hell.

"As long as there is time to redeem oneself, the Christian can still request absolution, if he truly repents and asks for forgiveness," he said.

Doctor Sergio Cabral, director of the Amaury de Medeiros Intergrated Health Centre, where the abortion was carried out declined to comment on the archbishop's decision and said simply that the clinic did "its duty to assist a poor family, always within the framework of legality."

Cabral noted that the pregnancy's gestation, which was in its 15th week, was a serious danger for the life of the young girl who stands only 1.33 metres tall and weighs 36 kilogrammes.

The archdiocese said it declined to file suit against the girl's mother. This decision was reportedly due to the fact that its lawyers considered it unlikely that such a complaint would be successful.

The public prosecutor's office said its personnel had followed the case but thought there was no reason for them to intervene since Brazilian law allows abortions for victims of rape, without the need for an explicit authorization from the court.

The girl, whose identity was not made public, was recovering, and doctors hoped she could leave hospital within a few hours.

The stepfather, 23, confessed to the rape and was arrested last week in Recife, the capital of the state of Pernambuco. According to police, the girl had been sexually abused since she was 6.

Her pregnancy first came to light after she complained of dizziness and said she often felt sick, Brazilian news agency Folha Online reported. The subsequent medical examination revealed last week that she was pregnant with twins. dpa