At the hospital, Lucía and her mother made clear that they wanted to terminate the pregnancy. Over the following days, the girl and her relatives were caught up the nation’s abortion wars as local officials and activists took steps to stop her from having an abortion.

Abortion is illegal in Argentina. But for nearly a century, it has been allowed in cases of rape and in instances in which the pregnancy poses a life-threatening risk to the mother.

Yet, instead of arranging for her to terminate the pregnancy, officials at the hospital gave Lucía drugs that accelerated the development of the fetus, according to her lawyers.

“These were all delaying tactics to pass the time and force the girl to give birth,” said Celia Debono, the Argentina coordinator of the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defense of Women’s Rights. “They said they were giving her vitamins when they were giving her medication to mature the fetus.”

The hospital also allowed anti-abortion activists to visit Lucía’s hospital room, where they urged her to have the baby, warning that she otherwise would never get to be a mother, said Fernanda Marchese, the executive director of Human Rights and Social Studies Lawyers of Northeastern Argentina, which is representing Lucía and her family.

While Lucía remained hospitalized, provincial authorities released little information about the case. As they grew restless, relatives of the girl sent an email to Ni Una Menos, a group that fights violence against women and has become a leading voice in an effort to legalize abortion.

When lawyers from the group arrived at Lucía’s bedside on Monday, “we were faced with a situation that was desperate and anguishing,” Ms. Marchese said. “The family was not given the proper information to be able to exercise its rights.”