Rape and abortion--where do you stand?

Question

In a hypothetical world:

Women: you're brutally raped and find out when you miss your next period that you're pregnant. You are deeply commited to your current partner, and s/he does not want to keep the baby. What do you do? Do you abort? Adopt? Keep the child?

Men: Your partner has been brutally raped. She comes to you after about a month to tell you that she's pregnant, and there is a strong chance it's the baby of her rapist. How do you support her?What would you do if she carried the child to term? How would you love a child if you knew the father could be a rapist? Would you demand abortion?

The key to this question: Only women can make the call to abort as men do not have to go through the trauma of rape and the birthing process. You MUST answer as your gender and your gender only.

Assume that the Day After pill was not used in this case, due to reasons not to be mentioned here.

Do NOT lecture on whether or not abortion is right or wrong. Too many people lecture on whether or not abortion is right without looking at the mothers who have had abortions.

Do not tell me that abortion is murder.

This is about a real-life scenario. You CANNOT fully understand abortion until you stare it right in the face.

Answer 1

I am a Male.

My view on abortion has & I'm sure always will be that it is the womans call.

I would give my full suport to her choice.

If she was my wife & chose to keep the child it would be my child also.

If she was just a good friend I would have to see where we were going as a couple.

Answer 2

I think you're best hearing from women who have been raped and became pregnant from it, as well as their partners.

But, in a hypothetical situation, if I were raped and as you described, I would seriously discuss it with my partner. I would not make the decision on my own, because he will be the father and would play a major role too in raising up the child. I'm not sure what would be my own decision since I haven't had to face it. But I think after discussing it with my partner, we would come to a good decision together, whether to abort, adopt or keep the child. I see all of them as options.

Answer 3

I would ask my girlfriend to immediately get an abortion (if she does it wthin 6 - 8 weeks, the fetuses brain and nerves will not have developed yet and it will have no memory or sensation of pain or loss...). If she decided to have the baby I am pretty sure I would break up with her because it would upset me that she would be willing to have the child of a man who raped her. I would not love the child...If she wants to have the rapists child, she can go ask the rapist for child support.

If my girlfriend chose to have the abortion like I said (I know she would because she is the type), I would find the rapist and I would rape the rapist with a 2x4 and smash every tooth in his head and break every bone in his limbs and smash his head into a big bloody beaten purple pulp of tomato soup looking vomit mess...then I would pour salt and vinegar all over the wounds.

Answer 4

I am a female :)

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Abortion is a heated and controversial topic. I shall not touch upon what you have requested not to bring up. :)

I shall state an analogy to describe abortion. I define it as a tool- to brutally remove an unborn foetus. This tool is just like any other tool- which can be used for both good and bad. What is the first thought that comes to your mind when you think of a hammer? A chopping knife? You'd think that they're used for hammering nails and chopping up chicken right?

You are absolutely right.

Then again, murderers use them as a tool for... getting rid of other human beings.

This analogy can thus be applied to abortion. In this case, it refers to circumstances. For the case of a girl getting raped, yada yada, I'd say it is fairly justifiable (lol, pun unintended) for her to abort the child because physically and mentally, chances are she is traumatized by that incident. A rape is defined as a forced sexual intercourse against the will of the raped person. Therefore, under the circumstances present, the Female cannot be held responsible for the act which brought about the Child. To add to this, she may be under much distress (a man can never know how ashamed a woman will feel if she is 'taken' against her will; 'taken' as in, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN) and it is technically not the feelings and processes a woman will go through if she had intercourse for pleasure.

THEREFORE, in this case, it should be legal because well, it's not her fault. And don't ******** blame the woman for being able to bear a child because that's waht the female reproductive system is for. (Some as.sholes like to say this; God save them with a brain transplant)


HOWEVER- in the case of a woman who slept around with men, or had unprotected sex, she AND the man are both to blame, because they are responsible for their creation. They did it with knowing the risks involved, and to try to rectify the situation with the TOOL mentioned above is definitely something that is wrong. That is the same as cold-blooded murder because it was HER and HIS mistake to start with in the first place.

And yes, the call should only be made by the woman because contrary to what I postulated in the first paragraph, some commendable women still stand for giving birth even though they are not the responsible ones. However, if they ARE getting married (which is GOOD, EXCELLENT, even) the man has to have some right as well, right? Because he will eventually bear the role of father to the borned child. In this case, the family to be will have to consult a counsellor, whom I feel is more befitting to dispense advice on this matter. The counsellor is better trained in this area, and can provide the picture of pros and cons to let the family have a better view of things.

For me, personally, I'd abort if it was rape. I have the right to, but then again, hormonal changes might change my decision (as would many other raped mothers) so, in this case, lots of faith and love will do alot of good.

Hope that answered your queries :)

Answer 5

it's controversial. abortion is a sensitive topic, as is rape. as such, there will always be supporters on both sides that are equally passionate.

here's my attempt to offer a "hypothetical answer.:

1- rape is horrible. for many women (and men) the experience of a rape negatively affects them for years. i think we can all agree on that.

2- pregnancy is NOT a cakewalk. very often, i hear arugments stating that the "woman should just continue with the pregnancy." as if pregnancy was a simple 6-week gestation period, with painless labor and no post-partum pain. i've even heard some say the girls as young as 8 should continue the pregnancy. this is absolute craziness! for women who have been pregnant, this is insulting. pregnancy--without being raped--is difficult. hell, there is no way i would willingly endure 9 months of morning sickness, backpains, stretch marks, mood swings, bloating, swelling; and hours of labor and delivery just because someone thinks that women are vessles!

3- the adoption argument is propaganda! if i hear one more time that "there are couples who can't have children, so just have the baby and give it up" i'll scream! newsflash: a young, fertile woman's violent assault should not be used as a means for infertile couples to parent.

4-abortion does terminate a potential human being. we can all split hairs on the "life beings at conception" argument, but i think that will devert from the poster's question. since abortion will result in termination, it's very important that she receive non-biased counseling and support.

5- parenting a child that you conceived willingly is tough, now imagine one conceived without your consent. can we say, "child abuse?"

6- yes, the child might be the next einstein, but he/she might be the next serial killer. let's not forget that every criminal was a fetus that was "saved."

7- if placed in this situation, i would have to terminate the pregnancy. i love children. I have children. i also know the physical and emotional pain that pregnancy, labor, childbirth and parenting causes. there's no way in HELL i'd endure that without wanting to.

Answer 6

First and foremost I would want to know how my partner felt about this child and move on from there. I would want to know if she was emotionally able to carry the child to term . If she agreed
that she wanted to carry this child to birth I would support her in that decision. Then I would suggest that a DNA test be done on the child shortly after it was born. If the child wasn't mine, again I would ask my partner , How do you feel about raising this child?
Can you love him/her unconditionally. If she couldn't then I would suggest adoption . If she could then I would support her in raising the child as our own. My view is the child didn't choose to be born in this manner and is an innocent. The only comment I would make is that I'm assuming this is a committed relationship .

Answer 7

I would have the abortion because I was raped before and luckily did not become pregnant from that...I have a three year old going on four next month, I know the love of a child and to love a child...I also know the pain of rape and that I could not handle the memory of it each day, I would want to put it in my past...far away so that I can get on with my life, that is all I wanted to do when it happened so that is my response.

Answer 8

I would keep the baby. I personally would never be able to have an abortion after having kids. I would hope that other women would not abort, but I believe it is up to the woman that was raped. I would respect their choice.

Answer 9

look at the mothers who have had abortions? they are traumatized! There is a group of women who have had abortions who are trying to send this message out called Silent No more.
http://www.silentnomoreawareness.org/
Anyway, I am going to lecture you on whether its right or wrong- you can't make a decision otherwise. Even if you are raped, does that give oyu the right to kill your child? Two wrongs don't make a right. (I am a man by the way) Anyway, seriously, it's not right in any case- killing is only justified when you are defending life, and babies are completely innocent and unable to protect themselves.

Answer 10

I would try and keep the baby just because i have kids and know that no matter the father you have an unconditional love...I hate my kids father but I love my kids more then anything in this world.Abortion is a big decision and not an easy one.You will always wonder what would have been if you would have kept the baby..Rape is something terrible to go through but moving on and having a beautiful baby could help you heal