Posted on 09/07/2006 4:04:49 PM PDT by wagglebee
SPRINGFIELD, IL September 7, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Abortion creates more problems for rape and incest victims than it solves, according to the Ad Hoc Committee of Women Pregnant by Sexual Assault (WPSA).
In an effort to gain a public voice in the contentious abortion debate, the group has written a petition to Congress and state legislatures asking for public hearings at which women who've become pregnant through sexual assault can share their stories and address the real concerns that they have faced.
"In virtually every case, those people who claim to represent our interests have never taken the time to actually listen to us or to learn about our true circumstances, needs, and concerns," they wrote. "We are deeply offended and dismayed each time our difficult circumstances are exploited for public consumption to promote the political agenda of others."
The group is particularly concerned about the widespread misconception, even among people who generally oppose abortion, that sexual assault victims generally want or benefit from abortions.
For example, a statewide survey in South Dakota recently found a proposed abortion ban there would receive overwhelming support at the polls as long as it provided an exception for rape and incest cases. Without the exception, the ban is favored by only 39 percent, with 47 percent opposing it and 14 percent undecided.
However, the WPSA members say abortion does nothing to help women pregnant through sexual assault, and in many cases is actually detrimental to them.
"In many cases, we felt pressured to abort by family members, social workers, and doctors who insisted that abortion was the 'best' solution," they wrote. "For many the abortion caused physical and emotional trauma equal to or exceeding the trauma of the sexual assault that our abortions were supposed to 'cure.'"
Dr. David Reardon, who co-authored the book Victims and Victors: Speaking Out About Their Pregnancies, Abortions, and Children Resulting from Sexual Assault, said the results of the South Dakota poll results reflect voters' desire to spare women the hardships often associated with giving birth to a child conceived in sexual assault.
"Typically, most people have accepted the premise that sexual assault victims not only want abortions but will actually benefit from them," said Reardon, a leading researcher on post-abortion issues and director of the Elliot Institute. "They assume abortion will help victims put the assault behind them, recover more quickly, and avoid the problems that might arise with giving birth to the child--who is often described as the 'rapist's child' rather than the woman's child."
But the only two published studies that have actually tracked the choices and experiences of women who have become pregnant after rape or incest, Reardon said, actually lead to the opposite conclusions. Remarkably, both studies found that approximately 70 percent of pregnant rape victims chose to give birth rather than have abortions, even though abortion was readily available.
"Prior to becoming pregnant, many of these woman would have said that they would have an abortion if they became pregnant through rape." said Reardon. "But after the rape, many change their minds because they have a heightened concern about abuse and trauma. They want to break the cycle of violence. Many also sense that an abortion will only add to their emotional suffering."
Furthermore, in the Elliot Institute's survey of 192 women who became pregnant through rape or incest, nearly 80 percent of the woman who had abortions said that they strongly regretted the abortion, with most saying it had caused far more harm than good in their lives. Among women who gave birth to their children, the consensus against abortion was even stronger.
Of the women who reported having abortions, most reported feeling pressured by family members or health care workers to undergo abortions.
"This was especially the case for those who became pregnant through incest," Reardon said. "in almost every case, the abortion was chosen by the girl's parents or tragically, by the perpetrator himself. In some cases the abortion was used to cover up the incest and the girl was returned to the same abusive situation to be victimized again."
According to Reardon, the problem of coerced abortions is a national epidemic. A recent survey found that 64 percent of women who report a history of abortion also report feeling pressured by others to have abortions. Reardon said the percentage is likely higher for those who become pregnant through sexual assault.
In one case described in Victims and Victors, a woman who was impregnated by her father at the age of 15 wrote of being taken to the hospital, where her father demanded that an abortion be performed. When she refused, she was held down by the nurses and drugged before being subjected to the abortion.
"I grieve every day for my daughter," wrote the woman, who asked that her name be concealed to protect her privacy. "I have struggled every day to forget the abuse and the abortion. I can do neither. . . . The trauma of the rape and abuse was only intensified by the abortion."
Abortion, Reardon said, "gives molesters the means to cover up their crime and the opportunity to repeat it, subjecting the victims to repeated ongoing abuse as well as the additional trauma of an unwanted abortion."
More than a dozen studies published in peer-reviewed medical journals in the past several years have documented psychological problems among women who have had abortions, including higher rates of depression, substance abuse, psychiatric problems, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, sleep disorders, and other difficulties.
"Many of these studies indicate that women with a history of trauma are even more likely to experience traumatic reactions following an abortion," Reardon said. "Sexual assault victims are not immune to post-abortion trauma. Indeed, the best evidence suggests that they may be at the greatest risk of severe reactions to abortion."
But if sexual assault victims aren't offered abortions, what should be the response from those around them?
"The women in our survey said repeatedly that what they needed was time and support to come to terms with the assault and the resulting pregnancy," Reardon said. "While none proposed that there are any easy solutions, well over 80 percent believed that abortion clearly made their problems worse."
For Kathleen DeZeeuw, who raised her son after becoming pregnant through rape at the age of 16, the solution begins with attentive listening. She says abortion advocates have used the issue of sexual assault pregnancy to push for abortion without considering the real needs of the women involved.
"I feel personally assaulted and insulted every time I hear that abortion should be legal because of rape and incest," she wrote in Victims and Victors. "I feel we're being used to further the abortion issue, even though we've never been asked to tell our side of the story."
"Women who have gone through the trauma of rape or incest need to be counseled, cared for, and listened to," she added. "A woman is most vulnerable at a time such as this and doesn't need to be pounced on by yet another act of violence. She needs someone to truly listen to her, care for her, and give her time to heal."
For more information and the petition online click:
http://www.unchoice.info/resources.htm
Exactly!
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It makes far more sense to get the opinion of rape victims than the opinion of baby butchers.
I went through a very violent rape and when I was in the hopital they gave me a pill to take. I asked what it was and they told me that it would take care of any pregnancy that might occur. I said no and they looked at me like I was crazy. The worst part was that they seemed to question whether it was really rape. I was furious! IF I believed in abortion, and I do not (I once did), I would have wanted to take some time and think about it. No woman in that situation should have anymore pressure or added stress of any kind what-so-ever! There is plenty of time to think about it afterward.
Like years.
Why haven't I heard this from the MSM? I admit that I've always assumed rape/incest victims were pro-abortion because that's the way it was reported. Until now, I've never been presented with the victims' actual views.
bump for later
I am so sorry to hear that. This might interest you.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1421597/posts
I know I am going to get falmed, but I would like to point out that a sample of 192 conducted by this person and this organization hardly constitutes a credible and unbiased statistical study. The results may be correct, but again they may not.
it's not a large number, but then again the number of women who get pregnant after rape is very small as well.
I am with you.
It doesn't matter what percent of women would chose abortion or not when violently raped or suffering incest,,the ones who don't want to have a child because of the crime, ought to get either a morning after pill or an abortion.
And a morning after pill is not an abortion. I won't get into an argument about it.
How many is enough for you? 1000? 10,000? What do you consider credible? Planned Parenthood numbers? CBS numbers?
Typically, when a preliminary study like this shows interesting results, then, and only then, is a massive study untertaken and designed to be conclusive.
I don't care what anybody "generally" wants or believes. No one is advocating that every rape or incest victim be forced to have an abortion. Instead, what those of us who favor the rape exception want is for these women to be allowed to do what they believe is right for them. If they "generally" don't want an abortion, then that's great. They "generally" won't have abortions, and we'll all be happier. For those few who do want an abortion, justice is not served by punishing them or their doctors for making that choice.
I'm glad for the women in this group who didn't want abortions after being the victims of sexual assault, but they don't speak for every victim of sexual assault. They speak only for themselves. They have the right to advocate that women who are in similar circumstances follow the same course of action that they followed. However, their advocacy of that path doesn't change the fact that justice is not served by punishing fellow victims who feel differently.
When a woman becomes pregnant as a result of rape, the rapist should be sentenced to significant extra time in jail. If the woman carries the child to term, that time is punishment for his having taken that time from her life. If the woman chooses to abort the child, that punishment is for the loss of the child's life. Either way, the rape victim should not be punished for doing what she believes is best to put her life back on track.
Bill
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Please explain exactly why a baby conceived by rape deserves to die.
I'm not quite clear on what you mean. Do you think pregnancy and childbirth are punishments?
"When a woman becomes pregnant as a result of rape, the rapist should be sentenced to significant extra time in jail."
Since I think that the punishment for forcible rape should be life imprisonment, I naturally can't see how you could give "extra" time for a resultant pregnancy.
But even if you say, OK, there's a relatively light sentence for rape but extra prison time if pregnancy results, I think that's a bad idea. It might just motivate rapists to rape anally --- which a lot of sexual assailants do anyway.
My step daughter gave birth to a beautiful baby girl Tuesday night. She seemed so distant, and sad. I think she was thinking of the one she aborted a few years ago. She kept confessing it while she was in labor, saying how horrible she felt about it.
Congratulations on your new granddaughter!
I don't think that there is anything that is unforgivable so long as we seek God's forgiveness.
To the person who doesn't want to be pregnant or give birth, they are punishments. Forcing the victim to choose between carrying a child she doesn't want to carry and going to prison for refusing to carry the child does not serve justice.
But even if you say, OK, there's a relatively light sentence for rape but extra prison time if pregnancy results, I think that's a bad idea. It might just motivate rapists to rape anally --- which a lot of sexual assailants do anyway.
I don't think that the punishment for rape should be life imprisonment, but even if I did, I don't see our society agreeing to that punishment. I think that the punishment for rape is generally eight to twelve years in prison, but I could be wrong on that point. I think that adding five to ten years would be the appropriate punishment.
I'm skeptical of the argument that adding this punishment is going to change rapists behavior. If rapists really believed that they would get caught or really let that factor control their actions, they wouldn't be committing rape in the first place. From what I've read, the specifics of their attacks are determined more by the wrongful desires that lead them to rape than by concerns about how the criminal justice system will respond.
Furthermore, why is anal rape worse than vaginal rape? I understand that anal rape will almost certainly cause tearing of the rectum. How long does that tearing require to heal? In extreme cases, the rectum may be damaged severely enough to require a colostomy, but I suspect that this degree of damage is very rare. I realize that tearing of the rectum can allow blood-borne pathogens to enter the body, but can't vaginal rape also lead to tearing? I had read somewhere that any kind of rape can lead to abrasions through which blood-borne pathogens could infect the victim. While some women can function very well through pregnancy, I suspect that most victims of an anal rape would make a complete physical recovery many, many months before victims who become pregnant could carry and birth a child and then recover from the pregnancy.
You may believe that the victim will recover better emotionally if she carries the child. You have the right to that belief and to speak that belief. You have the right to support organizations that hold that belief. I've given thousands of dollars to crisis pregnancy centers that hold that belief and counsel women that way, and I expect them to counsel that way. However, the point of the criminal justice system is not for us to force rape victims to do what we think is most emotionally therapeutic for them. If the victim believes that she'll do better emotionally or physically be aborting the child, that's her choice.
I refuse to support a law that would punish a rape victim for whatever choices she made in the aftermath of a rape. I refuse to tell her that she must carry the child, and no rape exception will force any rape victim to have an abortion. The rape exception simply says, "We will not interfere with whatever choice you make about the child that the rapist forced on you." If that means that some innocent children will be aborted, I can accept that outcome more easily than I can accept sending the rape victim to jail because she refused to carry the child and had an abortion.
Bill
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