An Italian court's dilemma over whether to order a pregnant 13-year-old girl with learning disabilities to have an abortion escalated yesterday when a letter allegedly written by the girl, begging judges to let her keep her baby, was printed in newspapers.

The incident has sparked a furious war of words between the Roman Catholic church and the state amid accusations from both sides of opportunism and barbarity.

Conservative forces have mobilised since the girl's doctor, a court-appointed guardian, last week recommended that the pregnancy be terminated.

The Vatican daily, Osservatore Romano, branded a decision to recommend an abortion as a return to the horrors of Nazi racism. "The human being that this girl is carrying in her womb is being treated like the dregs of society," it said.

The case has led Italians to draw battle lines on the issue on a scale not seen since a 1994 referendum legalised abortion.

Pressure is building on a Sicilian court, which must give a ruling by next week when the pregnancy is expected to pass Italy's three-month deadline for terminations.

The girl, known only as Laura, was taken by social services from her family, who live in the Sicilian coastal town of Pozzallo, near Ragusa, two weeks ago. Initial suspicions that she had been raped evaporated when it emerged that she had been dating a 14-year-old boy.

Laura's guardian, Ignazio Ruffino, said that by recommending abortion he was acting exclusively in her interests.

"I know her well and I know the condition of her physical and mental health," he said.

"I am certain that she is not capable of understanding what is happening to her. The pregnancy and birth risk seriously jeopardising her mental condition."

Laura's mother agreed with Dr Ruffino that an abortion would be the lesser of the two evils.

The children's court in the town of Modica, near Ragusa, which appointed Dr Ruffino as Laura's guardian, initially supported him. But after the furore it said it was not competent to rule on the issue. His decision is being examined by a surrogate court, headed by Daniela Di Sarno.

Pressure rose yesterday when a handwritten scrawl, said to be Laura's, was published in newspapers. "Dear Judges, I want my baby. Don't kill my baby. I beg you, save me."

In an interview to La Repubblica, Cardinal Ersilio Tonini moved to dampen suspicion that the letter was not entirely Laura's work by comparing her case to a British 12-year-old who, he said, insisted on having her baby for the sake of having someone to love.

Those who cited Laura's disability as a reason to abort her child were missing the point, he said. "There are many gradations, many levels of mental handicap, and maternity is an instinct, a fundamental feeling."

But Dr Ruffino said the letter changed nothing. Laura was ambivalent about her baby and liable to change her mind regularly, he said. "I don't know what sort of value can be put on this letter."

Controversy has been fuelled by the revelation that Dr Ruffino was appointed to replace a previous guardian, Francesco Gugliotta, who favoured allowing the pregnancy to run its course.

Mr Gugliotta, a social services commissioner in Pozzallo, said he did not know why he had been removed.

A former family minister in a previous centre-right government, Antonio Guidi, has called for an inquiry into Dr Ruffino's appointment.

Though Italy's population is overwhelmingly Catholic, it defied the church to vote in favour of a 1994 referendum legalising abortion before three months of pregnancy.

Abortion rates are below the European average but conservatives have sought to roll back the legislation.