A 23-year-old "vulnerable and traumatised" Somali woman who was raped on Nauru is pleading with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to allow her to come to Australia to have an abortion. 
The woman, "Abyan" (not her real name) is one of two female Somali refugees who have requested help from Australia after being raped on the island. Last week the ABC's 7.30 broadcast distressing footage of the other victim, a 26-year-old woman known as "Namja" (not her real name), calling police for help after her rape - she says it took police four hours to answer her plea.
The 23-year-old woman is 11 or more weeks pregnant as a result of her rape and is begging to be allowed to come to Australia for an abortion. Lawyers acting on her behalf wrote to Mr Turnbull and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton demanding a response by 5pm AEDT Tuesday.
George Newhouse, special counsel at Shine Lawyers, has been making representations to the Commonwealth on the woman's behalf for one week but has had no response.
"Five o'clock has passed, we've had no response from the government," he said. "I don't know what's wrong with the system but their failure to respond comes across as cruel and heartless."
Asked for comment on Tuesday the Prime Minister's Office referred the matter to the Immigration Minister's office.
A spokesman for Mr Dutton said the department was aware of the allegations of sexual assault but would not discuss individual cases because of privacy.
Nauru's Justice Minister has dismissed concerns about the safety of asylum seekers who now are free to come and go at will from the island's detention centre, saying his country is "in some ways ... safer than Australia".