Rape, Incest, the Life of the Mother, and the Abortion Argument: Part 1

A few days ago, in response to the recent pro-life bills passed in Alabama and Missouri, President Trump reiterated his pro-life stance, saying that he is against abortion with three exceptions: rape, incest, and the life of the mother being endangered. In fact, most politicians who call themselves pro-life would allow for those exceptions. While it’s good that our president is largely pro-life, there’s really no reason to be for abortion in these other circumstances either. The thing is, at least as far as rape and incest are concerned, these arguments are just traumatic covers for the real reason all abortions occur: the “comfort” of the mother and the ability for her to “move on” with her life without having to worry about a child. The claim that aborting a child conceived in these ways will help the mother forget about what happened to her is a lie that will actually just exacerbate the situation. The life of the mother is another matter and I will address it in another post.

The first thing you have to ask yourself when you hear that a woman has been raped or had an incestuous encounter and now wants to abort the baby conceived in order to “forget” and move on with her life is “But what about the child?” That baby, although conceived in traumatic circumstances, is just like any other baby in a mother’s womb. Why shouldn’t it be given a chance to live? Something that you will often hear in a pro-life argument is that the baby is not responsible for the sins of the father and it’s true. And if the baby’s not responsible, why should he or she be punished and put to death for them? However hard it may be, the sacrificial and maternal thing for the woman to do is to let the child live and raise it or put it up for adoption.

Another pro-choice argument that you will often hear in this situation is that if the woman has the child, every time she looks at him or her it will remind her of what happened and cause her pain and suffering. First of all, what about the pain and suffering the baby will experience during the abortion? Studies have shown that they do indeed feel excruciating pain during the procedures. As for the woman, if you watch EWTN, they will often show short segments featuring women who have had abortions. Even if they aren’t always following rape or incestuous encounters, all of them express the regret and shame they felt following their abortion and that it didn’t actually solve their problems at all, but added to them. Organizations like Project Rachel, Silent No More Awareness, and Abortion Changes You have countless stories about women experiencing emotional and mental trauma following an abortion on their websites (links below). If rape or being involved in an incestuous encounter is already a traumatic event, and abortion is also a traumatic event, then can you imagine the trauma they would BOTH inflict on a woman? Trying to make a traumatic event better with another violent, traumatic event just doesn’t make sense and the woman would only have more anguish added to her pain.

Besides having more pain added to her situation, how does ending the life of another really solve things? If you really want to move on and come to terms with what happened, first of all, just have the baby. It is said that once a mother lays eyes on her baby, she forgets the pain of childbirth entirely and is consumed by love for her child. It’s not too hard to imagine, then, that once a mother who has been through a traumatic conception sees her baby, she will forget how it was conceived and be filled with love and the desire to do whatever it takes to care for that baby. This is not to say that the memory of the event will go away, but she will become less likely to associate the child with that trauma and realize that its life is precious nonetheless. She will then be consumed with giving that child the best life it deserves. This will be making something good out of a horrible situation and the woman will find that it is much more rewarding than just simply aborting the baby. God can make good out of any situation; we just have to trust Him and His plans for His creatures, born and unborn.

Rape and incest are not reasons to deny a child its right to live; rather, if one does conceive in these ways, they are opportunities to take a horrible and traumatic situation and cooperate with God’s plan to make good out of it. Even though it may be scary, being a mother requires sacrifice and doing what is in the best interest of your child. There is a better way; you don’t have to listen to the lies of the abortion industry.

Stay tuned for the pro-life take on abortion to save the life of the mother.

Project Rachel: http://www.hopeafterabortion.org

Silent No More Awareness: http://www.silentnomoreawareness.org

Abortion Changes You: http://www.abortionchangesyou.com

If you or someone you know has gotten an abortion and is experiencing grief and pain, there IS hope. You are not alone and Project Rachel has plenty of resources for you. May God bless all of you.