People ask from time to time what my position on abortion after rape is. This time I was asked this by a reader because of this CNN column.
My line for the media is that I’d be happy to discuss abortions for rape victims in more detail when we eradicate the 98 percent of abortions that are not the result of rape.
Behind that answer, however, lies a deep concern for the victims of rape, and a deep conviction that abortion kills a human being and is therefore not a solution for a rape victim.
Today we live in a culture that accepts abortion as a solution. People’s views vary, but generally, for many Canadians, abortion is a plausible solution for an unwanted pregnancy in any of the following life circumstances: Poverty. Life stage. Wanting to finish education. Wanting to compete in an athletic event where nine months out would mean you couldn’t. Not wanting to be in contact with the father, who you believe will be involved and you don’t want him to. The list goes on.
None of these reasons consider the humanity of the child. And the humanity of the child doesn’t change, given the reason for having an abortion.
We are appalled when someone is raped. And the circumstances are horrifying. We don’t view abortion as horrifying, and therefore, to many, abortion in the case of rape makes sense. I get that.
However, I am horrified by abortion, and so, in my mind, when you consider the trauma of rape you don’t top it up with the trauma of abortion.
I know I’m in the minority on this one, and so I return to my media line. Let’s have a big discussion of rape when the vast majority of abortions for social reasons have been eradicated.
I’m not sure what it will take to change the societal attitude that abortion is AOK. I recently spoke to a woman who was about to go for her third abortion. To be clear: She is using abortion as birth control. I was definitely more eaten up by this situation than she was. I jumped into high gear to try and help her, because I thought she wanted help. Turns out she actually didn’t. She was being offered help up and down the block, but abortion was the “solution” she wanted. Some kid paid the price because she didn’t feel like it. Not claiming her circumstances were ideal, no, but they weren’t dire either. I’m just saying it’s a sad world when help is offered and denied when someone’s life is on the line.
We don’t view abortion as a life and death circumstance. And if we did, we wouldn’t offer it up as a solution to rape victims.
(And by the way, I think the politician’s dialogue clipped here by the author sounds terrible, callous and useless, but then again, so is this CNN columnist’s viewpoint.)
by 
Thank you for this Andrea.
Society certainly does not view aboriton as a life or death situation. A woman aborting is not causing the death of just any random human being. She is causing the death of HER OWN CHILD.
And I think that is what horrifies me the most about abortion. It interjects violence into a mother-child relationship. The mother-child bond has been seen, from time immemorial, as a nurturing, loving, sacred relationship. And now it is permissible, legally sanctioned, and, in some cases, celebrated, when this bond is bloodily wrenched apart in a most violent matter. It cuts to the quick of what it means to be a woman.
Of course the rape scenario is tough. Folks who approve of abortion in case of rape say that a woman shouldn’t have to carry her attacker’s child. Fair enough. But the child is hers too. The pregnant woman who has been raped is faced with a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t scenario. She can carry her attacker’s child, or she can kill her own child. Abortion is not a compassionate solution here. Abortion is one of two crappy options, and she’s got to pick one of them.
But I have to say this. If the hard cases (rape, incest, to save the life of the mother, or the fetus has a condition that is incompatible with life) comprised the majority of abortions, I wouldn’t have a dog in this fight. Let me say that again: if abortion truly were rare, I wouldn’t give a damn if it were safe and legal.
When it comes to abortion in the case of rape I have personal experience as my insight. I was raped many years ago and I became pregnant as a result. My doctor couldn’t understand that I would keep and raise the child. I viewed it as a horrible event, but that wasn’t the babies fault and the baby was still a blessing eventhough he/she got here through such terrible means. Abortion NEVER crossed my mind. I was traumatized, but I strongly believe that the baby had no part in that and deserved a chance. Unfortunately, I suffered a miscarriage later on and I grieved the loss of my child. That baby was my child, regardless of how he/she was conceived.
AlbertaMama, thank you for your comment. I’ve known children conceived of rape, now my age, and they realize, as we all do, the immense strength and grace a woman must have to continue a pregnancy as a result of rape.