They said it.
“Can you imagine how it feels to know that your child is going to be killed at nine o’clock tomorrow, and there is not a thing you can do about it?”
Gary Bell, father of two aborted babies
Linda Pierce “Hidden Tears” Easton Publishing Company 1991
Share on Facebook“Abortion – Not Even When the Pregnancy Is the Result of Rape?” Pamphlet by American life league, Inc., 1995
A woman who was raped and had a child wrote a letter to the editor:
“Consider my beautiful daughter, Jessica. She is eight months old, has no teeth but a full head of hair and seems to be developing a fondness for Apple juice. She is loved by me, her grandparents, her uncle and her two sisters more than words can say.
She is also a child conceived during a rape.
I was raped in 1992. I did my civic duty and reported the rape. I worked with the assistant district attorney to prosecute my assailant. He was eventually pronounced “not guilty” because date rape is difficult to prove.
When I discovered I was pregnant from the assault, I was horrified. I debated long and hard over what choice I should make.
Common sense would dictate that an abortion was the answer, right? Wrong. No matter how hideous my child’s conception had been (and rape is a degrading, demoralizing act that alters one’s whole life), I knew that there was a life growing inside me. I chose to accept this child is being my baby – not the rapist’s. My friends and family supported me 100%, but the choice was mine to make and I know I made the right one.
All children are gifts from God. It makes no difference how they are conceived.
I feared I would see my rapist’s face every time I looked at my child – but I don’t. I see a beautiful, happy, little girl who wasn’t planned and wasn’t the result of an act of love – but nonetheless is loved very, very much.”
Tamara L Roleff. Abortion: Opposing Viewpoints (San Diego, Greenhaven Press, 1997) 137-138
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One nurse told this story:
“I, too, witnessed a similar incident during one very long night shift in the emergency room. We were summoned to get a “pregnant woman in distress” out of her car. The first to arrive was a paramedic, who reported hearing a little cry as she approached. She tried to give the baby rescue breaths, but a new infant can’t tolerate more than a couple minutes without oxygen before permanent brain damage occurs, as you know. By the time we got the infant inside, she was already cyanotic [blue] and, with the parents’ urging, the ER doc pronounced her [dead] almost immediately. The focus turned to stabilizing the mom who was bleeding profusely. I felt so badly for her and tried to comfort. She was quite cold to my attempts, which, of course, raised suspicions. When mom’s “primary physician” arrived on scene, we all realized what was going on – that it was, in fact, an abortion. This was a perfectly formed 26-week baby. Someone laid her on a table. As soon as I saw her I nearly fell apart. The image of that beautiful, fully formed, perfect little infant haunts me to this day.”
Biohazard Bags and Buckets “WorldNet Daily” November 8 2004
by Jill Stanek
For more stories of babies born alive after abortions, go here
Share on FacebookSandra Mahkorn, who has studied women who have become pregnant as a result of rape says the following in New Perspectives on Human Abortion:
“Perhaps as a result of their own biases or an unwillingness to deal with the more emotionally difficult and demanding complications of a pregnant victim, many physicians curtly dismiss the issue by prescribing abortion in these cases as one would prescribe aspirin, fluids, and bed rest for a cold. Ironically, those purporting to promote respect for the sexual assault victim too often propose a paternalistic attitude when the question of pregnancy arises. A sensitive awareness of the individual is abandoned with many of the so-called quick and easy solutions… In the majority of these cases, it appears that the pregnant victim’s problems stem more from the trauma of rape rather than from the pregnancy itself.”
Stephen Currie. Opposing Viewpoints Digests: Abortion (San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press, 2000) 106
Share on FacebookIncidentally,another rape counselor, Joan Kemp, was quoted saying:
“After sexual assault there is, for varying lengths of time, a natural revulsion toward anything associated with the rape. That may include the location, or characteristics of the rapist such as clothing, race, mustache, etc. It is normal for this feeling to attach to the unborn child conceived in rape. However, these feelings normally fade with time. When this does not happen spontaneously, counseling with someone qualified to treat rape victims is highly effective. Rape victims I have worked with were quite aware and distressed by the inappropriateness of these feelings. They would not, for instace, have welcomed anyone telling them that men of their attacker’s race are natural criminals. Nor do women welcome being told that their children conceived in rape are unworthy of life, genetically prone to crime, and bound to feel unwanted and bitter. A person in crisis is seeking positive solutions, not a counsel of despair.”
21. Joan Kemp “Abortion: The Second Rape” SisterLife, Winter 1990 Feminists for Life of America, 811 E. 47th St. Kansas City, MO 64100
Share on FacebookIt should also be noted that there have been only two studies of those who became pregnant after sexual assault. Reardon’s and one other, which was conducted by Dr. Sandra Mahkorn, who is an experienced rape counselor. Her study indicated that of women who become pregnant due to rape, a large number (70%) rejected abortion as an option and instead had their babies. Based on her research, Dr. Mahkorn concluded that:
“[This study indicates] that pregnancy need not impede the victim’s resolution of the trauma; rather, with loving support, nonjudgemental attitudes, and empathic communication, healthy emotional and psychological responses are possible despite the added burden or pregnancy.”
Sandra Kathleen Mahkorn, M.D. and William V. Dolan, M.D. “Sexual Assault and Pregnancy” in Thomas Hulgers, Dennis Horan and David Mall, “New Perspectives on Human Abortion” (Frederick, MD: University Publications of America) 1981, 194
Share on FacebookShould abortion be legal in cases of rape or incest? That is a difficult question. Each individual must use their own conscience to decide whether or not to support abortion in those cases. But I hope that reading the quotes here will make you think about whether abortion is good for women, even in these extreme cases. To finish, I will leave you with the words of one woman who was raped and had her child before Roe v. Wade:
“Never, in the years after her birth, did I ever regret giving life to my daughter. However, there have been many times when I have looked back grateful that no state legislature had provided an easy, instant answer of a free abortion for me. I’m grateful because, at that time, I might have bought into the lie that an abortion would fix all my problems. But fortunately that temptation wasn’t there.”
David C. Reardon, Julie Makimaa, and Amy Sobie. “Victims and Victors: Speaking Out About Their Pregnancies, Abortions, and Children Resulting From Sexual Assault” Springfield, IL: Acorn Books) 2000 p 94
Share on FacebookAnother incest victim who had an abortion said:
“I had hoped someone would question me before my abortion. But, I was not asked why I chose abortion. If I had been questioned at all, someone would have heard quite a story…I feel the state let me down….If abortion had been questioned in my case, I may have had a baby. I may have been happier. I may not have gone through the suicide attempts. I know that abortion has long term affects on women…”
David C. Reardon, Julie Makimaa, and Amy Sobie. “Victims and Victors: Speaking Out About Their Pregnancies, Abortions, and Children Resulting From Sexual Assault” Springfield, IL: Acorn Books) 2000 p 138
Share on FacebookAnother incest victim who had an abortion said:
“I have talked with pro-lifers who consider my abortion acceptable, under the circumstances. I want to tell people “If you really want to be compassionate, give this mother the opportunity to choose life for her child. If you really love the mothers who have been victimized, don’t let them be exploited again by someone who will make a profit from their dead child- a memory that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.”
David C. Reardon, Julie Makimaa, and Amy Sobie. “Victims and Victors: Speaking Out About Their Pregnancies, Abortions, and Children Resulting From Sexual Assault” Springfield, IL: Acorn Books) 2000 p 125
Share on FacebookEdith Young, a 12-year old incest victim who became pregnant when her stepfather assaulted her, writes this 25 years after her abortion:
“Throughout the years I have been depressed, suicidal, furious, outraged, lonely, and have felt a sense of loss…Often I cry. Cry because I could not stop the attacks. Cry because my daughter is dead. And I cry because it still hurts….As you can see, the abortion which was to ‘be in my best interest’ just has not been. As far as I can tell, it only ‘saved their reputation’ ‘solved their problems’ and allowed their lives to go merrily on.”
David C. Reardon “Aborted Women: Silent No More” (Chicago: Loyola University Press) 1987, 217-218
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