An 11-year-old Romanian girl who was raped by her uncle when she was 10 and is now 21 weeks pregnant will have an abortion in the United Kingdom.

The family of the girl accepted an offer from a London-based Romanian woman to sponsor the abortion even though a government committee in Romania decided Thursday to allow the abortion in the country.

Abortion for pregnancy of more than 11 weeks is illegal in Romania and only allowed if the health of the mother is threatened by the condition. Abortion in the UK is legal for up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

The mother of the girl decided to have the abortion in London to avoid losing more time from possible protracted negotiations with local authorities.

Earlier, doctors refused to abort the baby citing the law causing a public uproar. The government of Romania intervened in response to public clamor to allow the abortion because of the mother's tender age and circumstance, but it took a month to decide to allow the procedure.