Project ETD

But What About... Rape

Pro Choice Argument:

But what about rape? Would you force a woman to carry her rapist's child against her will? All throughout her pregnancy she would be reminded of the terrible thing that happened to her and may resent or even hate the child.

My Response:

First things first - why do we demonize the undeveloped human that had absolutely nothing to do with the crime in the first place? If that isn't a commentary about the state of man, I don't know what is.

The only thing that a rapist's child shares with its father are 23 chromosomes. We should not, and do not punish people for having a specific genetic sequence or for looking a certain way. That would be discrimination. To label the fetus, a human, as "a rapist's child" is degrading and demeaning. If you found out that your mother, father, or a close friend was conceived by rape, would or should you think less of them? Would their existence mean less? To label the human life created from rape as "a rapist's child" also implies that they are confined to this status for life and cannot rise above it. Demonizing this innocent life is unacceptable.

It is foolish to think that aborting a human created by rape will make the pain of the act go away.

There are two victims in this scenario. Not only the mother, but also the child. All unborn humans do not choose to exist - their existence relies on the actions of others. A mother carrying the child conceived from rape can hopefully come to understand this and hold no ill feelings towards the human inside of her.

The mother in this instance should be respected, and even praised, for having to live with the burden of carrying an innocent life that she didn't choose to carry. The woman who, through no fault of her own carries this child is a hero and should be treated as such.

That being said, the event can be traumatizing and can cause severe mental stress. Counseling, therapy, and prenatal care should be made available for women having to deal with this situation - GOOD counseling, from experienced counselors, and good doctors delivering the children at good hospitals. Money should be no object when dealing with these heros. With the relatively small proportion of pregnancies occurring in this way - an average of 28,200 per year (1*)- funding for this should be extremely easy.

There are also instances where the mother may not be able to keep the child. Again, with the relatively small amount of cases like this, it isn't a far reach to think they could easily be adopted. There are certainly more families willing to adopt children than there are children (2*), but fixing the foster care system and adoption bureaucracy to be more efficient and reducing the need for them is a different issue entirely.  

It goes without saying that the rapist should be punished to the full extent of the law. It is of my opinion that this crime should be associated with the only other crime of it's kind - murder. Both are blatantly disrespectful of the value of life and an individual's autonomy

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Did I miss something? Let me know!

1)http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2013/aug/15/wendy-davis/surveys-show-wide-disagreement-number-rape-related/

2)http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/07/AR2008110702807.html