For Pro-Lifers: Is it possible to believe life begins at conception AND allow raped women to terminate?

Question

I have never been able to understand how these two positions can be recognciled. And if they can't, how can those who believe the fetus is a person support terminating pregnancies that come from rape and incest? I would really like to hear from pro-lifers on both sides of this question. Thanks.

Answer 1

Good question. I am looking forward to the pro-lifers answers. An abortion is an abortion, no matter if it the woman was raped. Why should this be any different?

Answer 2

I'm pro-life in most instances, but a woman who has been raped should definitely have the option of getting an abortion. Not all women would be able to psycholgically be able to go through the agony of a 9-month pregnancy following such a traumatic thing such as rape or incest. I also can't see forcing a 12 or 13 year old girl to carry through a pregnancy if they were the victims of incest. I just can't.

Given the fact that I'm a man who would never know the agony of such a horrific situation, I could not in good conscience say what any woman in that situation should do. Again, I don't like abortion. But I think rape/incest is a special case which warrants the option.

Answer 3

I am pro life. I have been through some pretty hard things in life- I was never raped, very close though. My sister was raped- it is an awful and traumatic event and unless you have been through it you cannot imagine the horror, the fear and the haunting that one goes through after such an event.
Ideally, I believe that if one became pregnant as a result of rape, and they were unable to care for the child because of the feelings associated with the rape, the child should be given up for adoption- even better, the mother would be able to find healing and seperate her feelings about the rape from her feelings for the child and love and raise the child on her own. Unfortunately, what is ideal is not always easy. Although I feel there is no justification for abortion, even rape, I cannot place judgement on someone who would have an abortion because of rape. I can't imagine the torment that that person would go through, and although god has provided a better way, do ANY of us ALWAYS take the right way instead of what is easier? I believe the God tempers justice with mercy and though that is not license to do the wrong thing, only God knows what is in the heart.

Answer 4

Although not all pro-lifers are such because they beleive life starts at conception (though most are). A person who is pro-life based on life starting at conception does not think abortion is acceptable, even in a rape instance. Many Pro-lifers, however, would support a law/position like this (abortion only in rape/incest) because they are realistic and realize that a law like this would still greatly reduce the number of abortions (or murders as they see it), and is much more likely to hold up to a supreme court test than a complete ban.

A simple analogy to make this point . . . Say you beleive that it is wrong to drive a car over 35 mph. The speed limit is 55. Wouldn't you support a reducion in the speed limit to 45?

Answer 5

No you can't have it both ways, life is life.. Even if a child is conceived after rape, doesn't make the child a rapist. Perhaps the morning after pills are best for victims. If you can stop the egg from being fertilized than you're not killing a human.

The main issue is that more abortions are often done when they don't that have ANYTHING to do with being raped, and long after pregnancy. Pro death people often ask about rape and near death scenarios to try to justify killing children. It's not justifiable.

So many couples today try so hard to get a baby and go above and beyond to get a child, if the mother doens' want the child or the ability to raise it, there ARE people that would love to love the child.

Answer 6

A die hard pro-lifer does not support abortion in this situation. They would rather see the child born and adopted. However, a pro-lifer with common sense will understand a woman aborting if pregnant from rape or incest. It should be the woman's choice in this case. I am anti abortion however, I do not condemn people for making their own decisions. It does sicken me that people do not use protection and opt for abortion as a form of birth control. Even though I am anti abortion I do not support biills making abortion illegal. Why....because women will wind on on kitchen tables and back alleys again.

Answer 7

Being Pro-Life, I don't think that it is wise to advocate abortion after a rape because of the following reasons:

1. We must approach the victim with great compassion. She has been a victim of such an violent act. Should we then ask her to be a party to a second violent act, that of abortion? Unquestionably, many would return the violence of killing an innocent baby for the violence of rape. The trauma of the rape will be with her for the rest of her life. Will abortion now be what is best for her, or will it do more harm yet? Will the mother be able to live with the knowlege that she killed her baby??Or, ultimatley will she be able to live more comfortably at peace with herself that knowing that she solved her problem by being unselfish by giving herself and her love to her innocent baby, and either keep or give her baby up for adoption?
2. The baby is only half genetically his child, it is half the mother's baby, too.
3. "Interestingly, the rape victim's cheif complaint is not that she is unwittingly pregnant, as bad as that experience is. We have found that the rape experience is forgotten, replaced by remembering the abortion, because it is violence that THEY are responcible for!"
m. Uchtman, Director, Suiciders Anonymous, Report to Cincinnati City Council, Sept. 1st, 1981
4. "In the majority of the cases, the pregnant victim's problems stem more from the trauma of the rape than from the pregnancy itself" Mahkorn & Dolan, "Sexual Assult and Pregnancy" In New Prospectives on Human Abortion, University Publishers of America, 1981 pp.182-199
5. Should we kill an innocent unborn baby for the crime of his father? Do we punish criminals by killing their children? Besides, women also have been known to falsley report rape. I know that because I am related to someone who works in Law Enforcement. Also an example: Jane Rowe of Roe Vs. Wade (Norma McCovey) fabricated a story - that she had been gang raped at a circus- in the mistaken impression that this would allow her to get an abortion in the State of Texas. Not untill 1987 did she actually reveal that she ahd concieved the baby in "What I thought was love". (Post, Sept. 9, 1987)
There is also medical reasons not to abort, she could be rendered infertile from the abortion, she could develop Post-Abortion Syndrome. for such an act of violence, another act of violence is never the answer. The rape victim should always be treated with caring, compassionate support, during the pregnancy and after the delivery. We should love both the Mother and the Baby.

Answer 8

Yes, the woman was forced to have sex. No, it is not the baby's fault. But, how can you force someone to do something again that was not their choice in the first place?
Just for your info. I know a woman who was raped and chose to keep the baby. I however am not so sure I could do that. But then again I believe in birth at conception, so I don't think I could kill the baby either.
Of course if you believe in the theory of nature can overcome nurture sometimes, I guess you then wonder if your child will be an unlawful and aggressive person like their father.
Sorry, don't think I really answered your question as raised a few more.

Answer 9

Because everything has Gray area.... That's why! Abortion should not be used as a form of contraception. Oh! I think I'm pregnant... It's okay... I'LL just throw the baby in the garbage. There are exceptions to every rule and I just think that the folks who are pro abortion come up with these type of rebuttals to discredit what us pro lifers believe. But there is always an exception!

Answer 10

I am agaisnt abortion for any reason, however I do not judge people that have had abortions. I beilive it is less than 4% of abortions are due to rape or incest. So I would say it is picking your battle, sacrificing 4% to save the rest. Still seems wrong to me, but with 5,000 babies being aborted a day, it would still be a huge improvement.