Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” where the two discussed the fall of Roe v. Wade and the pro-life state laws passed since.
Colbert began the interview by noting there had been “so many” laws passed around the country dealing with “reproductive rights,” asking if Harris was surprised to see pro-life laws sweeping the nation. Harris argued that pro-life laws are “inhumane” and that abortion is especially necessary for women who have been raped.
But abortion is the deliberate and direct killing of an innocent, defenseless, and undelivered human being, which is not humane — no matter how that human may have been conceived. It is not ethically or morally acceptable to take the life of an innocent person for the crimes of his or her father. In addition, abortion is not a healing act; violence against an innocent human being does not bring about healing. Abortion does not “undo” the crime of rape, and may even contribute further to the woman’s sense of grief, pain, and regret.
Studies have found that most rape survivors choose life for their children, and showed that “pregnancy need not impede the victim’s resolution of the trauma… rather, with loving support, nonjudgmental attitudes, and emphatic communication, healthy emotional and psychological responses are possible despite the added burden of pregnancy.”
In one study, as previously reported by Live Action News, “93% of the rape victims who aborted said they would not recommend abortion to someone in the same situation. Only 7% felt that abortion was a good solution in cases of rape. In addition, 43% said that they felt pressured to choose abortion by their family and/or by abortion workers.”
Still, Harris recycled pro-abortion talking points with Colbert.
“I think it’s the height of irresponsibility, and in many cases, inhumane, what has been happening in states around our country that are passing laws that would criminalize health care providers, literally provide for jail time for doctors and nurses who provide reproductive health care, that would punish women for simply seeking the kind of care that they choose, that they need,” she responded, adding that there would be no exceptions for rape or incest.
“Let’s speak clearly about what this means,” she said. “After a person has gone through a most vicious violation of their body, then the government will tell them, ‘And after that, you also will not have autonomy and be able to make decisions about your body as it relates to the decision you make next,’ after having survived such a violative act.”
She then added, “One does not have to abandon their faith, or deeply held beliefs, to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with our bodies!”
But abortion — the direct and intentional killing of a human before birth — is not an issue of faith or religion.
Preborn children are human beings, and that is not a religious belief. A woman who has been violated in a sexual assault does not need to redistribute that violence to another innocent human being in order to heal. What is “inhumane” is to advocate for the intentional, targeted killing of human beings at their most vulnerable while framing it as human freedom.
