Per reports, authorities reportedly took a 40-year-old man in custody after doctors\u00a0realized their pregnant patient, his “20-year-old wife,” was actually a 12-year-old child.\u00a0According to the statement, the man accompanied the girl and a woman he called his mother to a hospital.\u00a0The 40-year-old man told the hospital staff that he wanted the girl to undergo a routine test to confirm the fetus was healthy, but staff grew suspicious.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s obvious she is just a child, and certainly not anywhere near 20-years-old,” a staff member\u00a0said, adding that the child was unable to answer them as she did not speak Mandarin.\u00a0“I took her here to be examined — just do your job,” he reportedly said in response to to their queries. “Stop asking so many questions.”\u00a0Authorities in China later concluded the child was likely from Southeast Asia, and was abducted or brought in as a foreign bride.\u00a0Parents from a wide variety of religious groups, ranging from Christian to Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and beyond, have allowed their children to marry adults.<\/span><\/p>\n