Some people disclaim their natural heritage. I always name my origin. It didn’t hold me back and neither has my color. I was born in poverty. My father raped my mother when she was 12. Now they’ve named a park for me in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Renowned Gospel Singer Ethel Waters1
Since Roe vs. Wade was overturned in 2022, several states changed their abortion law [1]. Currently, there are 20 states with abortion bans or limitations. 14 states have banned abortion.
Most of these state laws contain exceptions for abortion in cases of rape or incest. This raises an important question: Should we allow abortion after sexual violence, or should we ban abortion [2] in cases of rape or incest?
From an ethical and logical standpoint, a baby conceived through violence is as blameless and innocent as one conceived in marriage and is therefore deserving of the same protection. If you challenge a person to look at two babies, one conceived in a loving marriage and the other through the violent act of rape, that person will not be able to tell them apart. Either all preborn babies are worth saving, or none of them are.
As the pro-abortion group “Religious” Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) says, “Opponents of abortion rights walk a fine line within their own movement when they condone any abortion. Based on their own definition, they are guilty of being accessories to ‘murder’ in certain circumstances by accepting rape and incest exceptions.”1
RCRC correctly points out that pro-lifers must never condone a single abortion and must never apologize for fighting rape and incest exceptions. If we allow that preborn lives are disposable for any reason, we set the life of the preborn below that of other human beings – and these “hard cases” are what started our nation and our world on the road to abortion on demand in the first place. If we had stood firm at the beginning, more than half a century ago, we would not be where we are today.
Related: WATCH: Exceptions for Rape and Incest? [3]
Do Rape Abortion Exceptions Help the Victim?
As reformed abortionist Bernard Nathanson has so eloquently stated:
Rape is a heinous, ineradicably humiliating act of violence imposed upon a defenseless woman. The key word is ineradicable, for the destruction of the innocent human being created as a result of that act can never eradicate the unspeakable emotional and psychological residue of that rape. To the contrary, it can only compound the residue with another deadly act of violence.2
After a rape, the woman faces multiple hurdles and difficulties. Some of her biggest problems include dealing with trauma and self-image issues, worrying about how others may think of her and treat her, and, if she were to become pregnant, carrying the criminal’s child. Incest [4] and rape survivors have always unjustly been victims of the “Scarlet Letter syndrome.” However, “treating” this problem of societal perspective with abortion further perpetuates the idea that the woman is a hopeless case or “damaged goods.”
While abortion may give the illusion of healing in the moment, this is not necessarily true in the long run. A survey conducted in 2000 [5] revealed that 80% of the rape survivors surveyed who had chosen abortion said it was the wrong choice, and most said the abortion only increased their trauma rather than took away from it. Conversely none of the women who had given birth had regret or wished they had chosen abortion.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [6], “More than four in five female rape survivors reported that they were first raped before age 25 and almost half were first raped as a minor (i.e., before age 18).” With this tragic reality, it’s understandable that some may feel that abortion is the most merciful option. But allowing abortion for cases of rape reinforces the social shame that rape survivors can feel.
As former rape counselor Sandra Mahkorn, M.D., says:
The central issue then should not be whether we can abortion all pregnant sexual assault victims, but rather an exploration of the things we can change in ourselves, and through community education, to support such women through their pregnancies. The “abortion is the best solution” approach can only serve to encourage the belief that sexual assault is something for which the victim must bear shame – a sin to be carefully concealed.3
What is more caring – to ignore the trauma of abortion [7] and tell her to “just get rid of it” to “heal,” or to respect the innocent life within her and give her the real help and healing she needs?
In summary, the tragedy is the rape – not the child that is conceived. Contrary to what pro-abortionists believe, two injustices do not equal a right or a healed life. The horrific violation that the woman has suffered deserves justice – putting the criminal in jail and giving the woman the resources she needs to heal and move forward. Pregnancy lasts nine months, but the pain of the proposed abortion “remedy” lasts a lifetime [7].
Some may answer that the woman has a right to be free from assault. Of course, she does have a right to be free from sexual assault, as every person has that right. But in cases of rape, the assault has already happened. Just as the woman has a right to be free from violence, so does her preborn baby. Promoting abortion for rape under this argument is similar to saying that anyone else who is physically assaulted can find healing and peace by going out into the street and assaulting another person.
It is also incorrect to assume that all rape victims must want an abortion. Indeed, in a major study of pregnant rape victims, researchers found that 75-85% of the women chose not to abort [8] their child. This brings the abortion exception for rape into question.
Additionally, studies have shown that many of those who abort their children after rape regret it [9]. But among those who had given birth, none had reported regret and satisfaction was higher.
Research has also shown that it is common for women, after any abortion, to experience feelings of depression, guilt, feeling “dirty.” resenting men, and lower self-esteem. These are also common feelings after a sexual assault. Thus, abortion only adds to the pain and suffering of women who have been victims of rape.
How Many Abortions Due to Rape are There?
Since pro-abortionists and the corrupt media exclusively emphasize the “hard cases,” they have persuaded the public that the number of women obtaining abortions for rape is huge. A national Wirthlin poll found that the average respondent’s guess at the number of abortions committed for rape and incest was 21% of the total number of abortions in the United States.4
However, the actual number of abortions [10] due to rape is actually miniscule. Six states have surveyed 2.44 million women over the time period 1996-2020 who had abortions and found that only 0.39% chose abortion because of rape or incest – that’s one out of every 250.5
Like all of the other abortion exceptions, the exception for abortion after rape is routinely abused by lying pro-abortionists, as the following stories show:
- Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer admit in their A Woman’s Book of Choices, “Before abortion was legal, women sometimes got abortions by claiming that they had been raped.”6
- The Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act of 1988 required women who claimed to be victims of rape or incest to report their crimes before getting a free abortion from the state. The reporting of rapes jumped significantly the very first month the law was in effect, and police reported that many women admitted that they were reporting rapes just to get their free abortions.7
- Such lying seems to be second nature for people like Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey, who fought to get federal funding for abortions. She said, “I’d tell my constituents, ‘Send a letter. Say you were raped. Say it was incest. Say you have heart disease.'”8
- Naturally, women lying to obtain abortions is also common in other nations. Al Jazeera published a tearjerker story about Brazilian women who were “forced” to claim that they were raped so they could get abortions. Articles like this one from the corrupt media are typically low on details and high on emotional manipulation as they work to undermine pro-life laws in other nations.9
Lying about these facts makes it much more difficult for law enforcement agencies to find and prosecute real rapists and opens up the very real possibility of innocent men being prosecuted for rape.10
No matter how prevalent abortions due to rape are, children conceived in rape should not be punished for a crime that they are also victims of.
Despite the fact that rape-related abortions are the vast minority of overall abortions, this does not diminish the fact that assault is deeply traumatic. This is precisely why victims need true help and healing from their communities and loved ones.
Related: Find free support for families here! [11]
Rape Protocol in Catholic Hospitals
Catholic health care professionals have developed a rape protocol that has been approved by the bishops. The doctor uses a simple test to determine if the victim has ovulated. If she has not ovulated, she is given a drug that prevents ovulation. If she has already ovulated, she is not given the drug because it may prevent implantation, thus starving a newly conceived baby.11
It is not enough to simply administer a pregnancy test in this situation. Pregnancy tests are not accurate very early in pregnancy. A woman could have a negative pregnancy test and still be pregnant (either from the assault or from a different, recent sexual act).
This “ovulation approach” protocol is based on the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services [¶36], which states:
A woman who has been raped may defend herself against conception resulting from sexual assault. If, after appropriate testing, there were no evidence that conception has occurred already, she may be treated with medications that would prevent ovulation, sperm capacitation, or fertilization. It is not permissible, however, to initiate or to recommend treatments that have as their purpose or direct effect the removal, destruction, or interference with the implantation of a fertilized ovum.
Catholic hospitals can only provide the morning-after pill if 4 conditions are met [12]:
- There’s no chance she is pregnant;
- She has been sexually assaulted, which is the reason why she is there;
- The woman has not yet ovulated;
- The morning-after pill can reasonably be expected to prevent ovulation.
As the NCBC explains [12]:
Appropriate care for rape victims should thus include efforts to assess whether a woman may have ovulated (and thus possibly conceived) by taking her menstrual history, doing an LH test, and performing any other tests or interventions which, in the judgment of the physician, help establish prudential certitude that emergency contraception, if it were provided to the victim, would properly function as a contraceptive and not as an abortifacient.
To provide the morning-after pill without considering a woman’s ovulatory state thus crosses an important moral line. In general, choosing to act in a way as to possibly cause the death of another human is not a good moral choice. When we have uncertainty about the presence of a human in the bushes during a hunting trip, for example, we ought not shoot into the bushes. By doing ovulation testing, on the other hand, we can begin to address the question of whether a human may be “hidden within,” and reasonably exclude the choice for a possible death-dealing effect of the drug.
In addition, the victim should receive continuing spiritual and psychological counseling and support to assist her in dealing with the trauma of the attack.
Summary
Abortion for rape victims can never be justified for several reasons.
- A child conceived in violence is himself innocent and created in the image of God. He has done nothing to deserve the death sentence, no more than a child conceived in a loving marriage.
- Abortion after rape wreaks more violence, provides no genuine healing, and leads others to believe that the “problems” caused by a rape have largely been solved. The solution to rape is not abortion, but prosecution of the rapist so he does not commit more crimes, and loving care for his victims so that they experience true physical and emotional healing.
- Finally, abortion for the “hard cases” such as rape is always used by pro-abortionists as a wedge to obtain abortion on demand. This has occurred in almost all of the developed nations and is now happening in many developing countries. If pro-lifers allow laws with a rape exception to be passed, they will soon be facing abortion on a massive scale.
This article was originally published in May 2021 by Dr. Brian Clowes and was most recently updated in August 2024 by Marisa Cantu, M.S.
+ Endnotes
[1] “Religious” Coalition for Abortion Rights (now the “Religious” Coalition for Reproductive Choice). Booklet entitled “Words of Choice” (Washington, D.C., 1991), page 24.
[2] Bernard Nathanson, M.D., statement to the Virginia State legislature, February 11, 1982.
[3] Rape counselor Sandra Mahkorn, M.D. “Pregnancy and Sexual Assault.” The Psychological Aspects of Abortion (Washington, D.C.: University Publications of America), 1979, pages 65 and 66.
[4] Results of a 1990 Wirthlin poll described in “The Week.” National Review, December 3, 1990, page 12.
[5] Tabulation of reports on “Induced Termination of Pregnancy” from Florida (1998-2020), Louisiana [13] (1996-2018), Minnesota [14] (1999-2019), Nebraska [15] (2001-2019), South Dakota (1999-2019), and Utah [16] (1996-2018).
[6] Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer. A Woman’s Book of Choices: Abortion, Menstrual Extraction, RU-486 (New York City: Four Walls Eight Windows Press), 1992, page 39.
[7] Andrew Sheehan.”New Abortion Law Brings More Reports of Rape.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 25, 1988, page 5.
[8] Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D. NY), Chair of the House Reproductive Choice Caucus, on what to do when eligibility for abortion funding under the Hyde Amendment was expanded to include rape and incest in the Summer of 1992. Quoted in Michael Kramer. “Will Abortion be Covered?” Time Magazine, September 27, 1993, page 40.
[9] Jill Filipovic and Ana Siedschlag. “To Get an Abortion in Brazil, I Lied and Said I Was Raped.” Cosmopolitan, April 11, 2014. Azmat Khan. “Brazil’s Abortion Nightmare: Why One Desperate Woman Lied about Rape.” Al Jazeera, May 2, 2014.
[10] Ferris B. Lucas, Executive Director of the National Sheriff’s Association, has said:
We do, however, wish to comment on the provisions that would allow federal funds to be paid for abortions performed for treatment of rape or incest victims only. The wording would lead a person desirous of an abortion to make false reports to law enforcement agencies which would have to be checked and investigated to some length. These crimes are not easy ones to prove or disprove and resultantly require many man-hours of investigation. American law enforcement agencies are presently overburdened and do not have this vast amount of time available”
July 18, 1977, quoted by Congressman Thomas J. Bliley (R-Va.) in his July 25, 1983 testimony printed in the Congressional Record.
[11] “NCBC Statement on Connecticut Legislation Regarding Treatment for Victims of Sexual Assault.” National Catholic Bioethics Center website, October 3, 2007. For a more detailed treatment of this issue, see Father William Saunder’s article “Ethical Treatment after Rape [17].”