Abortion Wrongs: Part 2
Links to this entire series:
• Abortion Wrongs: Part 1
• Abortion Wrongs: Part 2
• Abortion Wrongs: Part 3
• Abortion Wrongs: Part 4
• Abortion Wrongs: Part 5
by Allen Webster
From www.HousetoHouse.com
Abortion is not a “right;” it is a “wrong.”
WHAT ABOUT IN CASES OF RAPE? For a man to force a woman is an
unspeakable crime. Every woman fears such circumstances above nearly any other
evil. Every husband and father of a daughter abhors the thought of those under
his care being violated. Such cowardly evil boils the blood of every true man,
and turns the stomach of any normal person. Such selfishness shows a heart so
small and closed that it hardly qualifies to say it is made in God’s image.
Whenever abortion is argued, invariable the pro-abortion speaker will say,
“If you outlaw abortion, then rape victims would have no recourse but to bear a
rapist’s child.” Is this a valid reason to keep abortion legal for any woman for
any reason? Let us consider three introduction points, and then a brief
discussion.
First, let us define “rape.” Rape is the forcible imposition of a man on a
woman for sexual intercourse. This study is discussing assault (forcible) rape,
not marital rape or remorse over consensual sex. Whether a rape occurs behind
the bushes or on a date, it should be reported to police and charges filed.
(College students, are you listening?)[1]
Second, it is interesting that the percentage of rape abortions is actually
less than the percentage of unwanted babies conceived outside of marriage.
Fifty-one percent of unmarried women who become pregnant with boyfriends have
abortions; less than half of rape pregnancies are aborted. The rest carry the
baby to term and give the child up for adoption or opt to keep it. In one study
of 37 rape pregnancies, 28 carried to term.[2]
Third, stiffer laws and enforcement is better protection for women than
abortion rights. Sex criminals should face the quick and severe wrath of an
angry society (government) (Rm. 13:1-5); this would go far in preventing these
tragedies (Ecc. 8:11).
UNCOMMON. The rape argument for abortion is a smokescreen used to
prejudice undecided minds. These situations make up a very small percentage of
abortions in the United States. The Alan Guttmacher Institute, a research arm of
Planned Parenthood, completed a survey of 1900 women who had an abortion. The
reasons for having an abortion:
• 21% said they were not ready for the responsibility.
• 21% said they could not afford the baby.
• 16% were concerned about how a child would change their lives.
• 12% blamed a relationship problem.
• 11% felt they were not mature enough.
• 8% said they had all the children they wanted.
• 1% were the result of rape and incest.
Keep in mind that this 1% figure is from a “pro-choice” source. The AGI
Mission Statement says it favors the “freedom to terminate unwanted
pregnancies.” According to their data, about 14,000 women have abortions each
year because they became pregnant after rape or incest. This is out of a total
of 1.37 million abortions.[3]
There is the likely possibility that the true number is even smaller. In many
cases, there is social pressure to claim rape to justify a decision to abort.
Forty-three percent of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as
“Protestant” and 27% as “Catholic.” Both groups are historically anti-abortion,
but often give exceptions in cases of rape or incest.
That false claims of rape are made is commonly understood in discussion of
the abortion issue. The story of Jane Roe, of the infamous Roe v. Wade Decision,
is a case in point. In the early 1970s, Norma McCorvey (her real name)
fabricated a story about being gang raped at a circus, mistakenly thinking this
would permit her to obtain a legal abortion in Texas. In 1987 she revealed that
the baby was actually conceived “through what I thought was love.”[4]
She had made up the story. Another case is Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program. Up
until 1988 abortions were funded for women who claimed they had been raped,
without requiring reporting to a law enforcement agency. Abortion clinic
personnel issued thinly veiled invitations for women to simply say they’d been
raped. Since they didn’t have to prove it, and no one would arrest the
“rapists,” many took advantage of the offer. Based on unsubstantiated claims,
the state funded an average of 36 abortions a month. When the legislature added
a requirement for reporting the rape to a law enforcement agency in 1988, the
average dropped to less than three abortions per month.
UNLIKELY. The likelihood of becoming pregnant from rape is,
thankfully, very low. Pregnancy occurs in only about one in four thousand rapes.[5]
(Normal pregnancy rates are about 1 in 1,000 copulations.) There are physical
reasons for this. It is likely because of timing (not during the three days a
month a woman is likely to get pregnant), and because the rapist often does not
finish the sex act. Also, some women who are raped are sterile, are on
contraception, or are before/after child-bearing years.
There are emotional reasons for this. A rape victim rarely gets pregnant
because conception is unlikely during psychic trauma. Our benevolent Creator so
made the feminine reproductive system that she rarely conceives under stress.
All have known married couples who wanted a baby and tried to conceive—but met
with frustration. Finally they adopted a baby and then conceived shortly
afterward. To get pregnant and stay pregnant, a woman’s body must produce a very
sophisticated mix of hormones. Hormone production is controlled by a part of the
brain which is easily influenced by emotions. Every woman is aware that stress
and emotional factors can alter her menstrual cycle. There’s no greater
emotional trauma that can be experienced by a woman than an assault rape. This
can radically upset her possibility of ovulation, fertilization, implantation,
and even nurturing a pregnancy.
(See the Previous Article in this series:
Abortion Wrongs: Part 1)
(See the Next Article in this series:
Abortion Wrongs: Part3)
[1]
If the woman goes directly to the hospital, her word is accepted as enough
proof of rape. Reporting the rape to a law enforcement agency is needed and
any hospital emergency room will handle this. If done within a day or two,
she can be examined, given medicine for sexually transmitted diseases and
counseled. Sadly, through fright or ignorance, the average rape victim does
not report it. She quietly nurses her fears. She misses her period and hopes
against hope that it isn’t what she thinks it is. Sometimes months go by
before finally, in tears, she reports to her mother, her physician, or some
other counselor or confidante. To prove rape at that point is impossible.
The only proof of rape then is to have a reliable witness corroborate the
story, and such a witness almost never exists.
[2]
S. Makhorn, in Psychological Aspects of Abortion, Mall & Watts, Univ. Pub.
1979, Pg. 58
[4]
Post, September 9, 1987.
[5]
From a review of two separate studies, Dr. Charles M. Jarrett.
