In a recent graphic shared on Live Action’s Facebook page, arguments for abortion in cases of rape appeared in the comments section of the post.
Abolish Human Abortion (AHA) created the side-by-side graphic showing the ultrasounds of two preborn children with the following caption: Which of these two human beings was conceived in rape? And which of these children does not have the right to life?
AHA’s powerful graphic shows the impossibility of differentiating between a preborn child conceived in rape and a preborn child conceived by two consenting adults. The image’s message comes down to this: One circumstance should not grant the dignity of a human life while a completely different circumstance takes away the dignity of a human life.
Rape is a horrendous act of violence that no woman should ever experience. Women who are raped experience a great deal of pain – whether it be physical, psychological, or spiritual – that can sometimes last a lifetime. The healing process is not something that happens overnight, and unfortunately, the love, compassion and understanding victims of rape so deeply need for the healing process to occur is not always available. Many times, the only option given to these women is abortion.
It should be noted that when conversing non-confrontationally with women who have been raped, empathy is extremely important. And while the argument in favor of abortion in cases of rape may sound compassionate and reasonable at first, the argument does no justice for the rape victim or for her preborn child.
Ben Shapiro, editor-in-chief at The Daily Wire, argues that the circumstance – in this case, rape – does not change the human nature of the preborn child.
“As far as the morality of abortion [goes], the morality of abortion does not change based on need, right?… The abortion argument really comes down to, ‘do you think this is a life or not?’”
Here are five claims made by commenters to Live Action’s Facebook post, followed by reasons why rape does not justify murdering preborn children:
Claim #1: “As a victim of rape, I would never ask a woman to keep her child conceived under those conditions. It’s cruel and unjust.”
For someone to say, “I would never ask a woman to keep their child conceived in rape” is to say, “I really don’t want to be a part of the pain and suffering that you went through and the hardships you will continue to have to go through as a result of being raped.” Let’s face the harsh reality – rape is an act of violence upon another human being; but so is abortion. What is abortion? Abortion is the act of violently killing an innocent human being in the womb.
Dr. John Bruchalski, a former abortionist, explains the “hand-to-hand combat” that is abortion:
While the woman alone suffers through the injustice of being raped, both she and her preborn child suffer through the horrendous procedure of abortion. Two wrongs don’t make a right. There’s nothing compassionate or loving about murdering an innocent third party.
Claim #2: “Lets say an innocent 14-year-old girl gets raped by a 30-year-old monster felon. By all means, 100%, this girl has the right to have an abortion. She shouldn’t have to live her life and conceive this monsters child.”
There’s a special kind of evil in the act of child rape. It’s an unimaginable crime, and the rapist deserves justice to the fullest extent possible. But how is it that in some cases, the rapist is the one who gets off scot-free while the innocent preborn child is sentenced to death?
In his book, “Persuasive Pro-Life,” Trent Horn explains the necessity of empathizing with victims of rape so as to encourage people to rethink how we justify abortion in these cases.
“‘Honestly, I think that is one of the things that makes rape such an awful crime. Not only does it hurt the woman, but the rapist usually gets away with it,’” Horn says. “‘Or if he’s caught he gets a slap on the wrist. Sometimes we as a culture even blame women for being raped, and that’s inexcusable.’”
As a societal culture, we need to change our attitude in the way we think about administering justice. We need to rethink who the real perpetrator is. Hint: it’s not the innocent preborn child.
Claim #3: “Women shouldn’t be forced to be further assaulted physically and mentally by their attacker. Terminate the f—— pregnancy instead of forcing her to endure many more months of hell.”
This argument is built upon several fallacies. First of all, the attacker has already physically and mentally assaulted his victim. While being pregnant with a child as a result of the rape may remind the mother of the horrible experience she went through, simply carrying a preborn child to term is not a further assault on her. Secondly, how is aborting a preborn child – no matter how that child was conceived – not assault? The mother may receive both physical and long-term mental effects from abortion, but it’s the preborn child who receives the ultimate form of assault – death.
Claim #4: “Unfortunately women have been raped since before civilization. It’s evil, its wrong, it’s uncivilized. Every situation is different; allow the woman it impacts to make that choice.”
Saying “women have been raped since before civilization” is a terrible excuse for arguing for abortion in cases of rape. People who justify abortion in cases of rape using this argument while also acknowledging that rape is “evil,” and “wrong” and “uncivilized,” forget to mention that abortion is no less evil, wrong and uncivilized.
Murdering some preborn children because they were conceived in rape, while giving birth to other babies because they were conceived by two-consenting adults is not logical nor reasonable. As Ben Shapiro stated above, the “morality of abortion does not change based on need.” One situation does not justify the killing of innocent preborn children over another situation.
Claim #5: “If a woman is so traumatized by the rape that the pregnancy presents a permanent risk to the woman’s mental well-being, I think she has the right to make the decision to save herself. Forcing a woman to relive the rape for 9 months is cruel and inhuman.”
Rape is traumatizing, but so is abortion. Giving birth has never presented permanent risks to a woman’s mental well-being, but abortion has. Rape, for the most part, doesn’t cause death; abortion does, as its primary objective. Giving birth to an innocent child is not “reliving the rape,” but abortion will always be a constant reminder of the one possible good that might have come from the tragedy.
Women who have been raped deserve love, compassion and support from their family and friends for the sake of healing and forgiveness. Abortion is neither healing nor forgiving. Murdering an innocent preborn child will not take away the heinous act of rape; it will only bring more pain and suffering to the woman.
As a society, we must shift our attitude away from abortion as if it solves the problem of rape, and we must focus our attention on helping pregnant women see that true healing is possible, and beauty can come from darkness.
Editor’s Note: All op-eds are the opinion of the writer, and not necessarily the official position of Live Action.
