The Virginia legislature recently considered a bill that would require women seeking an abortion to receive an ultrasound. Grasping for arguments against the bill, various abortion advocates have stated that requiring an ultrasound, in the words of Virginia Del. Charniele Herring, is “akin to rape.”
The absurdity of this claim has already been eloquently debunked by writers for Live Action, LifeNews, LifeSiteNews, and other organizations, so I won’t spend time reiterating their points. Equating an ultrasound to rape is ridiculous, but if the pro-choice movement wishes, two can play this game. Let’s look at a much more valid comparison: rape and abortion.
Rape and abortion both stem out of a disrespect for human life. Just as in rape, a victim of abortion is viewed as a commodity rather than a person with inherent value. Victims of rape don’t consent to this abuse, nor do victims of abortion. In a painful invasion, the unborn are stripped of all privacy and denied all freedoms. In contrast to rape however, few abortion victims live to recover.
The flaws with the “ultrasound = rape” comparison have already been discussed at length. What I would like to focus on is a broader problem: the pro-choice movement’s exploitation of rape.
The political world is filled with manipulative, loaded language — especially when discussing abortion. By calling ultrasounds a form of rape, abortion advocates are stealing emotions from one issue and tacking them onto something that is completely unrelated. They are trying to take the sense of outrage that you (rightly) feel toward rape and have you feel the same way about an ultrasound. This is not only deceptive, but wrong.
How dare abortion advocates exploit a tragic incident to further their agenda? How dare they use one human rights abuse to promote another? This ridiculous argument is disrespectful to actual rape victims, making trite their painful experience. Rape should be viewed as the tragedy that it is, not used as a political playing card.
This isn’t an isolated incident. The pro-choice movement seems to have an obsession with rape. Understanding the emotion released when discussing rape, the supposedly “pro-women” movement has commodified victims, using them to further their agenda. “What about victims of rape?” is constantly asked when regulations on abortion are proposed, despite the fact that only 1% of abortions are received by rape victims. In a society that currently adores being a part of the 99%, I find it strange that pro-choice groups often demand that decisions be made on behalf of the [less than] 1%.
Abortion and rape are both human rights abuses, and the pro-abortion movement does little to stop either of them. (In fact, the abortion movement’s poster-child, Planned Parenthood, has been caught repeatedly failing to report cases of statutory rape of minors.) The abortion movement must stop abusing the abuse argument to further their cause. If the case for abortion can not stand on its own merit, then it deserves to crumble.
