COLUMBUS, Ohio - An Ohio judge will hear arguments from a Christian convert who says a reunion with her Muslim parents is impossible before the girl's 18th birthday next week.

At a hearing Tuesday, Rifqa Bary (RIHF'-kuh BAYR'-ee) also is expected to ask a juvenile court judge in Columbus for special immigration status to let her stay in the country.

The 17-year-old Bary is an undocumented immigrant from Sri Lanka who has said she needs the status to continue medical treatment for uterine cancer.

The Columbus Dispatch reports her parents claim she has been refusing chemotherapy and have filed a motion seeking to force treatment on Bary.

She fled Ohio alleging she could be hurt or killed for her religious conversion. Her parents deny she would have been harmed.