On another Blog, I've been Discussing Abortion and more Specifically the Exception of Rape. Most Pro-Life People do Consider Rape to be an Acceptable Exception in which Abortion should be allowed and yet when I was First Reading the Manual at the Pregnancy Center, where I've been Working, I read some things about the Subject that really Surprised me and that I'm sure many of you may be Surprised by too.
One Interesting Fact is that the Pregnancy Rate for Rape Victims of Child Bearing Age is only 5%, so Most Rape Victims do not become Pregnant. Also, 80% of Rape Victims Know their Attacker.
Here's what's Interesting, though. Because Rape is Considered an Acceptable Exception to the Forbidding of Abortion, Many Well Meaning People, Including some Pro-Lifers, will actually Pressure the Victim to Abort the Fetus. People are so Repulsed by the Sexual Offense, that they Wrongfully Assume that Evil will be Passed Directly to the Child in some way. It is far too easy to Forget that this is also the Child of the Violated Woman, who may not Share the Same Opinions as those who are Pressuring her to Abort the Baby.
A Woman does not choose Rape, but Abortion is an Act in which she must Willingly Participate. Women Rarely Report Regretting Giving Life to their children, whatever the Circumstances of the Conception, though Regret of Abortion is more Common than People Realize. As Odd as it may seem, Forgiving Oneself is Often even more difficult than Forgiving the Rapist.
Abortion is not an Eraser. Just because the Pregnancy is Terminated, this does not Cause the Pain of the Rape to go away, but here is the Clincher...
The Abortion Procedure is Quite Invasive and the Hard and Cold Instruments Invade the Same Part of the Body that was Invaded by the Rape. Since the Rape Victim has Already been Invaded, there are Situations in which the Abortion Procedure can be just like Reliving the Horrible Event all over again and it can be Quite Traumatic. She has been through one Traumatic Even, Why Add Another One?
And then there is the Matter of Incest. In these Situations, Abortion becomes the Perfect Cover Up for a Crime that Needs to be Reported and Brought to a Stop. Too Often such Victims are given their Abortions and then Placed Right Back into the Abusive Situation that Caused the Problem in the First Place. It is Actually much more Preferable if the Victim is Removed from the Home for Nine Months. The Nine Month Pregnancy can Actually Work as a Healing Period in which the Girl is Placed in a more Supportive Environment while the Rapist is Brought to Justice and a Suitable Home can be found for the Child.
It is not Uncommon for a Raped Victim to Choose not to Abort, if for No Other Reason, than for the Sake of Proving that she is not Like the Rapist. Rape Steals People of their Dignity and Carrying a Baby to Term is a Way to Get that Dignity Back, by doing a Very Good and Noble Thing. Doing a Good an Noble Thing is an Extreme Positive in the Healing Process, unlike Abortion that can Lead to Additional Guilt and Shame, Taring Away all that much More at the Dignity that was Taken by the Rapist.
This is Why there are some who rather than saying Abortion is Wrong "Except in the case of Rape", they will say Abortion is Wrong "Especially when there is Rape". I Look Forward to your Comments.
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19 comments:
"It is not Uncommon for a Raped Victim to Choose not to Abort, if for No Other Reason, than for the Sake of Proving that she is not Like the Rapist." Fine, if that is HER CHOICE. She had no choice in the matter of impregnation.
Should the state force her to raise the resulting child? Does that not enable the rapist (like the Brownheaded Cowbird,
laying its eggs in some
poor other bird's nest to be raised, often at the expense of the original
progeny) to congratulate himself on being a 'father' and encourage
further predation?
In 'proving she is not like the rapist' she becomes a double victim.
But....as long as its
HER CHOICE. Or do we know much better than her, and it be OUR CHOICE? Please note, you do not hear liberals or libertarians touting that the state insist that pregnant rape victims must have an abortion..but the pro-life folks prefer that the state
inform her that she cannot.
Rape is ugly, why make it uglier that pretending we know best and forcing the
victim to raise a child she
never wanted? Just sayin..
One of the Main Points that I was Trying to Make here is that if the Rape Victim is Pressured into Abortion, she becomes a Double Victim.
I'll be Back because I've Got more to Say, but am also Involved in some other Discussions on the Web.
Wow BB,
Some Discussions on the Blogosphere are really Heated. I'm a little Tired, but I'm going to try and give a brief answer to your comment.
The Problem is that when Abortion is Legal, too many People View it as a Positive and do not see it as the Negative that it is. Perhaps we should Remove the Word "FORCE" and Replace it with Discourage. Abortion should be Discouraged and there should be Laws that make it more Difficult, but not necessarily Illegal.
And again, I want to Stress that no one is Forcing anyone to Raise a Child. Adoption is the Forgotten Option that everyone seems Determined to Side Step and Adoption is Probably Advised in the Case of Rape, yet even that is up to the Woman.
Remember, the Pregnancy Rate for rape Victims of Child bearing Age is only 5%. If a Rapist was doing it in Order to Procreate, he would have to Rape 20 Women before Succeeding in his Quest.
The Motive behind Rape, though, has more to do with Violence and Aggression, than anything else. The Motive is to Dominate, Control and Humiliate. Procreation is not the Primary Motive in this Crime.
The Act of "Proving that she is not like the Rapist" is a Means of Restoring Dignity, not Victimizing Oneself.
I do not Know of any Pro-Life Folks that believe in Forcing a Rape Victim to Bear a Child. Most of them View this one as an Exception in their Pro-Life Position.
Your Assumption that she is going to be Forced to Raise a Child is Completely Unfounded. In this Particular Situation, Forced or Pressured to Abort is much more Common. No One in their Right Mind would Deprive such a Victim of the Option of Adoption.
Yeh well, I'm still guessing that they are not a big enough group to make a Difference Politically. I'm not going to Jump on that Band Wagon because, even though I do feel that Abortion is not the Right Thing to do, there is no Point in Pushing the Point so Strongly on People that they Hate us for it. That is not a Very Good Evangelism Technique and I Tend to Think that the Spiritual is more Important than the Political.
"I do feel that Abortion is not the Right Thing to do, there is no Point in Pushing the Point so Strongly on People that they Hate us for it."
Very wise that. Part of the problem in this country is Americans hating Americans. We are better than that, we can respectfully disagree.
Perhaps passion/idealism
as discussed in your previous post, sometimes
is not as effective as practicality and reality.
Very Good BB,
You have Understood my Point Exactly.
What I find so utterly fascinating about this subject is that, dunno what the latest stats are but let's for the sake of argument say pregnancies resulting from rape are like 1% of all abortions. Oh make that slightly higher if you wish and the other 97% is simply abortion-on-demand WHY do the choicers like to talk about it so much?
Exactly Z,
I Couldn't Agree with you More. I do have those Statistics somewhere and you are not that Far Off.
I Told Soap in a Comment Beneath my Abortion & State Sovereignty that Rape "only applies to less than 1% of the Abortion cases." and I'm sure I was Looking at a Brochure on the Subject at the Time.
"Abortion is a Wrong "Especially when there is Rape".
I strongly disagree..
respectfully, of course.
The phrasing there sounds as if rape victims 'especially' be
forced to bear their unasked for progeny. Forced by a criminal...
and then the law?
Maybe I should Stir this Conversation away from the Law in this Post, for I have already Stated that I do not Believe in Prohibiting Abortion in the Case of Rape, yet I still Feel that it is not a Good Thing to do.
If you Read this more Carefully, what I said was "This is Why there are some who rather than saying........they will say......". It also says that Abortion is Wrong, not that it should be Illegal.
Once again I Feel Like Repeating that "I'm not going to Jump on that Band Wagon because,........I Tend to Think that the Spiritual is more Important than the Political. So you see I'm not Actually Talking about the Law, Only about Morality, as well as the Negatives of Encouraging, rather than Discouraging Abortion."
So Once again I also Repeat that "We should Remove the Word 'FORCE' and Replace it with Discourage. Abortion should be Discouraged and there should be Laws that make it more Difficult, but not necessarily Illegal."
That's the Problem with Political Issues. Sometimes the Political (FORCE) gets Confused with the Emotional and Spiritual (Persuasion), but the Two are not the Same Thing.
"People are so Repulsed by the Sexual Offense, that they Wrongfully Assume that Evil will be Passed Directly to the Child in some way." One might guess that if it is a wrongful assumption those people consider nature over rides nurture. But,
sometimes nature does over ride nurture. Nature provides genes which bear on the effect of nurture:
so humans possess inate tendencies by inheritance.
The work of professor Pinker at MIT, among others, is shedding light
on nature/nurture. So in that respect stating that
'they wrongfully assume' may be in itself a wrongful assumption. That is the problem with 'assumption' and we need clarifiy whether it be based upon factual data or wishful opinion.
Oophs! That Misprint Warrants a Deleted Comment.
That which you Quoted, BB, was a slight rewrite of what was said in the Volunteer Manual at the Pro-Life Pregnancy Center. My actual Take on it is that I Think People just feel Repulsed by the Memory of the Event and by the Very Idea of what Took Place. People do not Know where to Direct their Anger, so they Direct it at the Baby.
You are Absolutely Right that Extra Sex Hormones can be a Genetic Tendency and In Fact, some People have an Extra Y Chromosome, or Extra Testosterone and they have even Found Genetic Tendencies Towards Violence and Violent Crimes.
It is not True, However, that Nurture has no Effect on the Behavior, even on Criminal Types. Actually what the Research Shows is that Children with Criminal Tendencies (a Certain Type of Strong Willed Child) need Very Strict Discipline. If such a Child is Spoiled, this will make the Criminal Behavior more Likely.
We must not Over Look, though, that Emotional Effects on the Pregnant Girl as mentioned in the Post.
BB said: "Should the state force her to raise the resulting child?"
Is this a relevant question? Show me one state policy, or even a proposed one, to force anyone to raise a child.
-------------
The big point here is that when rape has happened, there has been a crime. Those who favor killing children conceived during rape are seeking to punish innocent people for the crimes of another.
Lista, I do believe in prohibiting it. Imagine if all the energy the abortion industry puts into campaigns/etc to push for abortion in the most extreme instances were instead put into stronger anti-rape laws, prevention, education.
But no. The abortion industry doesn't make money off of rape or lack of it. They do make money off abortion.
Also, BB said: "But....as long as its
HER CHOICE. Or do we know much better than her, and it be OUR CHOICE?"
No, it is no one's "choice" to kill another person.
Finally, BB said
"for example. BTW, that same bunch protects their
priest pedophiles, adding
arrogance to hypocracy"
Yet, this has nothing to do with the abortion argument.
Now, the Catholic Church tends to be anti-war, and they oppose the death penalty.
Are both causes now invalid because the Catholics also tend to oppose killing very young children?
Thanks for your Comments, Dmarks, and I'll be by again to Respond when I have more Time. Meanwhile, have a very Happy New Year.
Thanks again, Dmarks. It is so Refreshing having somebody Join in the Conversation that is on my Side.
"Should the state force her to raise the resulting child?"
Usually it is the Parents and/or Friends that Apply this Pressure, not the State, yet in the Case of a Rape Victim, the Pressure to Abort is much more common.
Killing is Wrong, Except in Self Defense, yet there are Times in Which the Woman's Life is Endangered and in this Case, Abortion would be a Form of Self Defense.
The Reason Why I do not Try and Push the Side of this issue, Dmarks, that many People Consider the Extreme is because without a Willingness to Compromise, it is Impossible to get anything Accomplished Politically. I Wrote the Above Post, though, to Help People to Realize on a more Personal Level, that Even in the Context of Rape, Abortion is still a Negative.
I Most Certainly Agree with you, though, that Education is Needed in this Area and that no one should be able to "Choose" to Kill another Person and that the Hypocrisy of those who Believe in Something does not Change what is and is not True.
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