Thanks, Maelstrom. I’m still of the opinion that factors such as this are not enough to make pregnancy resulting from rape “rare,” but it’s useful to see the research and the possible mechanisms at work.
I’m not going to criticize this for being an experiment on mice, because one of the articles I posted, that acute stress may induce ovulation, largely relied on animal models as well.
Human reproduction differs from the reproduction of other mammals and I don’t think animal experiments can settle the quesstion.
Extreme stress can also delay ovulation, which may prevent pregnancy following the traumatic event, but allow pregnancy to happen unexpectedly somewhat later in the cycle from another procreative act. (My wife and I learned this after the fact from our fourth child).