How I am grieved by the indignities I have suffered, and revolted
by rank smells How I despise the nomad land and hate the nomad sky!
When I became pregnant with a Buranian child, I wanted to kill myself.
Yet once I bore it, I found the love of mother and child. His looks
are strange and his speech is different, yet my hate turns into love.
Deep inside, I feel the tug of my heartstrings. Morning and evening he
is with me. How can I not pity that which my womb has borne and my
hand nurtured?
Lament of an ancient Chinese noblewoman who
was kidnapped and raped by barbarians.[1]
Anti-Life Philosophy.
Legal abortion provides the only humane disposition of a pregnancy
resulting from rape or incest.
The National Abortion Rights Action League.[2]
Rape and Incest The Initial 'Wedge.'
There is always an easy solution to every human problem neat,
plausible, and wrong.
H.L. Mencken.
In every one of the 56 countries that now have abortion on
demand, the initial step taken by the pro-abortion forces was intense
lobbying for abortion in the so-called 'hard cases' fetal deformity
(eugenics), and/or rape and incest.
Any attorney will acknowledge that "hard cases make bad
law," but that hasn't stopped anti-life people all over the world
from using the classic 'hard cases' to introduce first artificial
contraception, then abortion, then infanticide, and finally euthanasia.
Once the pro-abortionists secure abortion for the 'hard cases' of
rape and incest, they use the situation to point out the
"inconsistency" in existing laws in order to justify abortion
on demand.
No Apologies!
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.
'Religious' Coalition for Abortion Rights.[3]
As correctly pointed out by one of the most rabidly pro-abortion
groups in the world, the 'Religious' Coalition for Abortion Rights,
pro-lifers must never apologize for fighting rape- and
incest-justified abortions. If we even begin to think that
preborn lives are disposable for any reason other than to save another
human life, we set the life of the preborn below that of other human
beings and this is what started our nation and our world on the road to
abortion on demand in the first place!
As former abortionist Dr. Bernard Nathanson has said so eloquently,
"If a part of a human community were not at stake, no woman should
be required to undergo the degradation of bearing a child in these [rape
and incest] circumstances, but even degradation, shame, and emotional
disruption are not the moral equivalent of life. Only life is."[4]
How Many Pregnancies Are
Caused By Rape?
A pregnancy conceived by forcible rape would probably head the list
as the most often unwanted, but it is such an unlikely event that it
is not really relevant to an understanding of the reasons why women
define certain pregnancies as unwanted.
Pro-abortion writer N. Lee.[5]
Introduction.
From an ethical and logical standpoint, the number of pregnancies
caused by rape and incest in this country is an issue that simply is not
relevant to the moral case against these exceptions. Either all unborn
babies are worth saving, or none of them are.
However, it is very useful to be able to show just how rare rape- and
incest-caused pregnancies really are, because the pro-abortionists have
succeeded in convincing the public that the number is extremely large. A
1990 national Wirthlin poll found that the average guess at the number
of abortions performed for rape and incest was 21% of the total number
of abortions in the United States.[6]
Calculations.
Since the definition of rape and the reporting procedures for such
crimes vary widely from one jurisdiction to another, it is difficult to
precisely pin down the number of pregnancies that result from rape each
year.
However, it is possible to make an accurate estimate by taking into
consideration Federal Bureau Investigation reporting percentages and
known fertility factors that affect both the rapist and his victim.
Figure 79-1 shows calculations of the estimated rate of
rape-caused pregnancies in this country using statistics from the Census
Bureau and various leading researchers. This rate of rape-caused
pregnancies is then used to calculate the total number of resulting
pregnancies in this country over the period 1973 to 1992 as shown in
Figure 79-2.
These calculations show that, on the average, about 550 women per
year become pregnant as a result of rape. Using this figure, this means
that, since Roe v. Wade in 1973, an average of 0.04% (one
twenty-fifth of one percent) of all abortions have been performed
for rape or one out of every 2,500!
FIGURE 79-1
CALCULATION OF PREGNANCY PROBABILITY DUE TO RAPE
[A medium text size on your computer's 'view'
setting is recommended, otherwise, the tables may be discombobulated.]
Possible Rape-Induced
Sociological, Physical, or Demographic Factor
Pregnancies
Assume an initial sample rape victim
population of 100,000.
100,000
Factors Affecting the Woman's Fertility.
About one-third of all rape victims are
postmenopausal or have not yet reached
menarche (first menstruation), and are
therefore generally sterile. Of those
victims that are of childbearing age,
47 percent have been rendered permanently
sterile due to elective surgery or
environmental effects. Finally, about 40
percent of all non-sterile women of
childbearing age are temporarily sterile
due to contraception use. This means that
(100% - 33%) X (100% - 47%) X (100% - 40%)
= 18.9% of rape victims were fertile at
the time of the attack.[A]
100,000 X 21.3% = 21,300
A woman is fertile only three days out of
a typical 28-day cycle. Furthermore, even
if all conditions are ideal and both man
and woman are fertile, and intercourse takes
place on every fertile day, pregnancy will
take an average of five months (or a total
of 15 fertile days out of five 28-day cycles)
to achieve.[B,C]
21,300 X (15/140) = 2,280
Factors Affecting the Rapist's Fertility.
Men in the United States have an infertility
rate due to natural or surgical causes
of about 25 percent. However, as a class,
rapists have a much higher degree (57%) of
erective or ejaculatory dysfunction serious
enough to render them sterile.[D,E]
2,280 X (100% - 57%) = 980
Rape is legally defined as penetration only;
ejaculation need not be accomplished.
Of those nonsterile rapists achieving
penetration, only about half deposited sperm.[D,E]
980 X 50% = 490
CONCLUSION: These calculations show that, on the average, 490 per
100,000 women
who are raped become pregnant in the United States. This is equivalent
to 0.490 percent,
or about one-half of one percent.
References. [A] R.B. Everett and G.K. Jemerson. "The Rape
Victim." Obstetrics and Gynecology. 50, 1977, page 88. Also
data based upon telephone communications with Dr. Charles Pratt, Survey
of Family Growth Division, National Center for Health Statistics, April
4, 1978, and Planned Parenthood-World Population on April 4, 1978.
Summarized in testimony by Congressman Thomas J. Bliley, Jr., (R-Va.) on
July 25, 1983, and reprinted in the next day's Congressional Record.
Also see United States Bureau of the Census. Reference Data Book and
Guide to Sources, Statistical Abstract of the United States.
1990, United States Government Printing Office. Table 99,
"Contraceptive Use By Women, 15-44 Years Old, By Age, Race, Marital
Status, and Method of Contraception: 1982." [B] R. Pearl. The
Natural History of Population. New York: Oxford University Press,
1939. Pages 72 to 79. [C] V. Seltzer. "Medical Management of the
Rape Victim." Journal of the American Medical Women's
Association. 32, 1977, page 141. [D] C. Groth, A. Nicholas, and Ann
Wolbert Burgess. "Sexual Dysfunction During Rape." New
England Journal of Medicine, October 6, 1977, pages 764 to 766. [E]
M. Dahlke, et al. "Identification of Semen in 500 Patients
Seen Because of Rape." American Journal of Clinical Pathology.
68, 1977, page 740.
FIGURE 79-2
PREGNANCIES CAUSED BY RAPE IN THE UNITED STATES, 1973 TO 1990
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
Rape Estimated
Pregnancies Legal
Reported Reporting
Total Caused
Abortions
Year
Rapes Ratio
Rapes By Rape
Performed
1973
37,662
55.5% 68,000
333 744,600
1974 40,008
52.8% 76,000
372 898,600
1975 41,501
56.2% 74,000
363 1,034,200
1976 43,222
54.1% 80,000
392 1,179,300
1977 47,829
53.3% 90,000
441 1,316,700
1978 50,590
48.8% 104,000
510 1,409,400
1979 57,958
50.5% 115,000
564 1,497,700
1980 63,599
51.4% 124,000
608 1,553,900
1981 63,038
55.7% 113,000
554 1,577,300
1982 59,967
52.8% 114,000
559 1,573,900
1983 61,019
47.0% 130,000
637 1,575,000
1984 66,367
56.0% 119,000
583 1,577,200
1985
71,060
61.0%
116,000
568 1,588,100
1986 73,453
48.1% 153,000
750 1,475,000
1987 73,456
53.2% 138,000
676 1,510,000
1988 75,441
55.8% 135,000
662 1,550,000
1989 80,045
51.1% 157,000
769 1,610,000
1990 77,920
60.1% 130,000
637 1,575,000
AVERAGES, 1973 to 1990 (18 years)
554 1,402,550
CONCLUSIONS: An average of 554 rapes result in pregnancy each year.
An average of 1,402,550 abortions are performed each year. If every
rape-caused pregnancy ended in abortion, 1 out of every 2,532
abortions would be performed for rape. This is 0.0395 percent of all
abortions (just under four one hundredths of one percent).
IMPORTANT: Note that this table takes into consideration not only
those rapes actually reported, but those that are not reported as
well. The calculations performed by the United States Census Bureau
divide the reported rapes by the reporting ratio to arrive at the total
number of annual rapes committed in this country.
Calculations and References.
Column (2): Figures are from Bureau of the Census, United States
Department of Commerce. National Data Book and Guide to Sources, Statistical
Abstract of the United States, 1990 (110th Edition), 960 pages.
Table 289, "Forcible Rape Number and Rate, By Selected
Characteristics: 1970 to 1988."
Column (3): Figures from the Statistical Abstract, unnumbered
table entitled "Police Reporting Rates for Personal and Household
Crimes: 1975 to 1987," page 168.
Column (4): Column (2) divided by Column (3). This calculation yields
the total number of estimated reported and unreported rapes
committed in this country by year.
Column (5): Figure 79-1 shows that the calculated probability of
pregnancy from rape is about 490 per 100,000 assaults. Therefore, total
pregnancies resulting from rape would equal Column (4) X 0.0049.
Column (6): Figures are from the Statistical Abstract. Table
100, "Legal Abortions Estimated Number, Rate, and Ratio, By Race:
1972 to 1985." Numbers of abortions for other years in this table
are extracted from Centers for Disease Control and Alan Guttmacher
Institute datasheets.
Verification With Studies. This number has been verified by several
studies performed in the late 1960s. These studies, which are summarized
in Figure 79-3, show that about one in 1,238 rapes result in pregnancy.
Although 20 years old, the studies are entirely valid, because the basic
parameters (as shown in Figure 79-1) remain the same. No similar studies
have been performed since 1970, because the liberalization or
elimination of abortion laws have rendered the question of rape-induced
pregnancies largely moot.
FIGURE 79-3
RESULTS OF STUDIES REGARDING THE FREQUENCY OF RAPE-INDUCED PREGNANCY
Rapes
Pregnancies
Ratio
54,000
80
1 out of 700 [1]
86,000
22
1 out of 3,900 [2]
14,400
0
[3]
914
21
1 out of 44 [4]
117
0
[5]
524
3
1 out of 175 [6]
155,955
126
1 out of 1,238 (0.08%)
References. Note that all of these studies are more than 15 years
old. No comprehensive studies of this nature have been performed since
the late 1960s, because the liberalization or elimination of abortion
laws has rendered the question of pregnancies caused by rape largely
moot. [1] Registrar General's "Statistical Review of England and
Wales for 1969." London: 1971, H.M.S.O. Cited in R. Gardner, Abortion,
the Personal Dilemma (Eerdmans, 1972), page 169. [2] B. And J.
Willke. Handbook on Abortion. Hayes Publishing Company, 1979,
page 40. [3] "Illinois State Medical Society Symposium on Medical
Implications of the Current Abortion Law in Illinois." Illinois
Medical Journal, May 1967, pages 677 to 680. [4] Of 1,100 women
raped in the District of Columbia from July 1969 to December 1970, 914
victims were followed up for 12 months. 21 became pregnant. 15 had
abortions and one miscarried. C.R. Hayman, W.F. Stewart, F.R. Lewis, and
M. Rant. "Rape in the District of Columbia." American
Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1972; 113:91-97. [5] R.
Everett and G. Jimerson. "The Rape Victim: A Review of 117
Consecutive Cases." Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1977;
50:88-90. [6] H. Fujita and W. Wagner. "Referendum 20 Abortion
Reform in Washington State." In J. Osofsky and D. Osofsky. The
Abortion Experience: Psychological and Medical Impacts. Harper &
Row, 1973.
In summary, if this page, from top to bottom and from edge to edge,
was an area representing all abortions performed in this country
annually, the square below would proportionally represent all abortions
performed for rape;
Verification: The Louisiana Experience.
The state of Louisiana
requires the most comprehensive reporting on abortions in the country.
Therefore, its records are the best source for determining how frequent
(or infrequent) abortions for rape really are.
In Louisiana, the abortionist must fill out a form entitled
"Report of Induced Termination of Pregnancy" (Form #PHS 16-ab)
for every abortion he commits. The form notes at the top that
"Failure to complete and file this form is a crime."
Item 9d on this form is entitled "Reason for Pregnancy
Termination."
The Office of Public Health of the Louisiana Department of Health and
Hospitals compiles these statistics. Over the 14-year period 1975 to
1988, 202,135 abortions were performed in Louisiana. Of these, the
reasons were listed for 115,243 of them.
The reasons for these abortions are listed below;
JUSTIFICATION FOR LOUISIANA ABORTIONS
Mother's mental health
114,231 (99.12%)
Mother's physical health
863 (0.75%)
Fetal deformity
103 (0.09%)
Rape or incest
46 (0.04%)
This means that, in Louisiana, 1 out of every 2,483 abortions is
performed for rape or incest. This number, which is statistically very
reliable due to the large sample population, almost precisely confirms
the results of the calculations described earlier in this chapter.
The state of Missouri has noted similar ratios. In 1980, the state
operated under court and Executive Orders to pay for rape and incest
abortions for poor women. Not a single claim under these headings was
submitted during the entire year.[7]
Pro-Abortion Liars.
[My mother] finally approved of her unwanted one, whom she had
borned so long ago in such great pain and sorrow and humiliation
...
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.
Ethel Waters.[8]
Overview.
Every pro-life sidewalk counselor is familiar with the
scene of woman after woman waltzing into abortion mills, each claiming
that "I was raped, so my abortion is OK."
It is almost certain that they are lying, because the figures above
show that even a high-volume abortion mill that performs 5,000 abortions
a year would see, on the average, about 2 genuine rape-caused
pregnancies each month.
Lying in the United States.
Women who are willing to kill their own
children for convenience obviously see lying as a relatively small
crime. Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer admit in their A Woman's Book
of Choices that "Before abortion was legal, women sometimes got
abortions by claiming that they had been raped."[9]
The Hyde Amendment.
Concrete statistical evidence of these persistent
lies was provided by the Hyde Amendment's varying effects upon the level
of Federal funding of abortions since 1977. This Amendment cut off
Federal funding for convenience abortions, and paid for 17,983 abortions
to save the life of the mother and for rape and incest in Fiscal Year
1981.
In Fiscal Years 1983 and 1984, only abortions to save the life of the
mother were allowed under the Amendment, and the average number of
abortions paid for during these two years plunged to 411.
This means that about (17,983 - 411) = 17,582 abortions were
performed for claimed "rape and incest" under the Hyde
Amendment in 1981.
This brings up a very interesting point. To begin with, about 20
percent of all women in the United States qualify for federal abortion
funding under this Amendment due to their low incomes. Figure 79-2 shows
that the estimated average number of both reported and unreported
rapes in this country during these two years was about 124,500.
If this number is divided by five in order to find out approximately
how many low-income women were raped during these years, we arrive at
24,900.
In other words, these low-income women are claiming that
(17,500/24,900) = 70 percent of all of their rapes resulted in
pregnancies!
To take this analysis one step further, Figure 79-1 shows that about
0.49 percent of all women who are raped actually become pregnant as a
result of the act.
Therefore, the number of women who claimed that they were raped to
get a free Federal abortion was (70 percent/0.49 percent) = 143 times
the number that were actually raped.
In other words, more than 99 percent of them lied to get a free
taxpayer-paid abortion!
For more information on the Hyde Amendment and on Medicaid funding of
abortion, see Chapter 60.
Lying All Over the World.
The phenomenon of women lying to obtain
abortions is certainly not unique to the United States. Just as a bogus
gang-rape was used as the basis of the Supreme Court decision to usher
in abortion on demand in the United States, a girl who claimed that she
was a victim of a gang-rape drove the first wedge into Britain's
protective abortion laws in 1938.
According to sworn testimony, professional pro-abortionists alleged
that a 14-year old girl was lured into a stable to see a horse with a
wooden leg (I am not making this up) and was supposedly
gang-raped by four guardsmen. She became pregnant, and went to a
crusading pro-abortion 'doctor' (Alec Bourne), who gave her a free
abortion. He then turned himself in. In the resulting case of law, Rex
v. Bourne, Judge Alex McNaghten decided that delivery of the baby
would impair the girl's mental health, and acquitted the abortionist.
Naturally, the guardsmen were never called into court to answer to
the charge of rape and for good reason. The incident never happened.
At the other end of the world, a New Zealand commission that
liberalized that country's abortion laws recommended against a rape and
incest exception since the likelihood of false reports and the
difficulty of checking them would render the exception utterly
meaningless.[10]
The Impacts of Lying.
When an abortion law is liberalized to allow
exceptions for rape and incest, the number of women claiming rape just
so they can get a free abortion invariably multiplies by a factor of two
or five or even ten. Just as inevitably, all available rape-crisis
resources are overwhelmed by the sudden explosion of referrals. Women
who were really raped will be victimized a second time because of
these liars, and agencies and the public will eventually begin to regard
even genuine claims of rape as "crying wolf."
Additionally, these callous and uncaring women will stretch
law-enforcement agencies to the limit. The results may be twofold: When
the lying woman is quizzed regarding her "rape," she may feel
pressured to come up with a name any name, and innocent men will
be prosecuted and even jailed (although this result may be welcome to
the Neofeminists who claim that "all men are, by their very
natures, rapists"). Secondly, the chances of real rapists
being caught will drop drastically, and these predators will be free to
rape and rape again.
In just one of thousands of cases of false rape accusations, an
11-year old girl accused her mother's boyfriend, Ivie Cornell Norris, of
raping her repeatedly. Cornell was convicted and sent to prison. After
he had languished there for more than a year, the girl admitted that she
had lied. Her story was based on an episode of the television program
"21 Jump Street," which had depicted a rape.[11]
Norris' life was destroyed; he lost his job, his freedom, his
reputation, his girlfriend, and all of his savings over this spurious
charge. This is typical of the impacts on a man who is imprisoned on a
false rape charge. Neofeminists know full well that Norris' story might
be repeated thousands of times annually if women try to get abortions
under rape and incest exceptions. But, since they could not care less
about the impacts of their decisions on men, the Neofems cannot be
expected to promulgate any kind of safeguard against this terrible
abuse.
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 some women admitted that they were reporting rapes just to
get a free abortion.[12]
When large numbers of pro-abortion women start lying to get their
free abortions, the situation makes it next to impossible for law
enforcement agencies to find and prosecute real rapists. As
Ferris B. Lucas, Executive Director of the National Sheriff's
Association, said in 1983;
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 manhours of investigation. American law
enforcement agencies are presently overburdened and do not have this
vast amount of time available.[13]
This explosion of uncaring liars first occurred in Colorado, when the
Model Penal Code abortion law revisions were passed 1967. This law
allowed abortions only to save the life of the mother for rape and
incest, and for the mother's health. Of the 1,850 legal abortions
performed in Colorado the first year under this law, 18 percent (or 333)
of the mothers claimed to be rape victims.[14] According to the
statistical analysis performed earlier in this chapter, it is probable
that at least 330 of the 333 were lying. This percentage is buttressed
by the fact that, in all of these cases, not a single rapist was
arrested or even identified, a statistical impossibility in light of
the fact that more than half of all rapes are committed by men that the
victim knows.
Exaggerated Numbers.
Women are not the only people who lie about
rape-caused pregnancies.
At the Labor/HEW Appropriations Bill Conference Committee Meeting on
September 15, 1976, rabid pro-abort United States Senator Edward Brooke
stated that the Uniform Crime Report showed that more than 50,000
forcible rapes occurred in the United States annually. He then said that
it was the opinion of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that
only ten percent of all rapes are reported. Then he pulled a convenient
number out of the air and said and that two percent of all rapes
resulted in pregnancy.
He concluded by claiming that these numbers "proved" that
there were 10,000 rape-caused pregnancies in the United States every
year.
Dr. Willard Cates, Chief of the Abortion Surveillance Unit, Center
for Disease Control (CDC), who is himself pro-abortion, replied to this
fabrication three weeks later in an October 7, 1976 letter by saying
that "I know of no good studies documenting this [10,000 figure]
... We don't want this type of misinformation attributed to CDC."[15]
Pro-abortion groups, of course, are in the forefront when it comes to
trotting out doctored public opinion polls and bogus statistics.
National pro-abortion groups continue to make impressive claims as to
the number of women who become pregnant due to forcible rape. These
numbers have ranged up to 12% of all rape victims or a total of 20,000
rape-caused pregnancies each year a factor of exaggeration of at least
4,000 percent!
These pro-abort organizations occasionally quote studies that 'prove'
the above figures. However, they dishonestly manipulate the figures in
two ways;
• When they quote government figures that show that a certain
percentage of rape victims have unwanted pregnancies in a certain year,
they deliberately quote those figures that include those unwanted
pregnancies that were not a result of the rape; i.e., they had
become pregnant as a result of voluntary intercourse with their
boyfriends or husbands. The pro-aborts even include women who were
pregnant at the time they were raped in their figures.
• The pro-aborts also quote figures from other pro-abortion
organizations and from rape crisis centers that have done unscientific
'surveys' or 'studies' of women who have given reasons for wanting to
get abortions. As described elsewhere in this chapter, the women who
obtain abortions for 'rape' are almost always lying. Additionally, a
very high percentage of the women who appear at rape crisis centers and
claim that they were raped are also lying. But these claims are not even
investigated in a cursory manner.
The Question of Incest.
Do women get pregnant through rape? Yes, they do. If we define
rape as intercourse by any man forced on an unwilling women, then the
pregnancies number in the thousands ... The poor victim of rape might
receive an abortion for $200 and medical care for a few hundred. If she
gets neither, that's the value of her life.
Planned Parenthood.[16]
The Pro-Abortion View.
Abortion for incest is the detestable twin
sister of abortion for rape. Pro-abortion people believe that a woman or
girl can 'erase' the child conceived of incest just as easily as they
can 'erase' a child of rape.
From an immediate and short-term point of view, of course, this is
absolutely true. But pro-abortionists are notoriously short-sighted.
They believe that an abortion closes the matter, and then everyone lives
happily ever after. They have only one solution for all possible
problems that a woman might have: Abortion!
There is one aspect of incest that is missing from the crime of rape:
An abortion will remove the preborn child, but the assailant remains. In
fact, it is often the assailant who insists upon the abortion to cover
up his own crimes.
Incest-Caused Pregnancies.
Although incest usually involves repeated
intercourse over a period of up to ten years, it has a very low
probability of pregnancy less than one percent.
This is due to several factors.
Most cases of incest currently involve one to three acts of
intercourse, and are promptly reported or uncovered. This has not always
been the case. Until about 1970, incest resulted in as many as 20
percent of the victims becoming pregnant before incest treatment
programs and self-awareness training became widespread.
According to Robert Carroll of the Santa Clara County Child Sexual
Abuse Treatment Program in San Jose, California, and Dr. George E.
Maloof, a psychiatrist at the Community Mental Health Center in Daly
City, California, the incest rate per victim (not per incident of
felonious intercourse) is "less than one percent."[17]
The Christopher Street program in Minneapolis reported four cases of
pregnancy in 400 cases of incest, or about one percent. Santa Clara
County's incest treatment program, run by Henry Giaretto, reported less
than one percent pregnancies (12 instances) in 1,500 cases of incest.
And Washington State's incest treatment program reported no pregnancies
whatsoever in more than 600 cases.
If the results of these four studies are combined, we see that the
probability of pregnancy due to incest (per girl, not per case of
intercourse), is 16 out of 2,500 cases (one out of 156, or 0.64%).[18]
Abortion As a Coverup for Incest.
Abortion is the best possible
coverup for incest. Perhaps this is why groups of organized pedophiles
and pederasts including the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA)
are stridently pro-abortion. NAMBLA insists that taboos against incest
are 'antiquated' and 'outmoded.'[15] There is absolutely no reason for
an organization consisting of child molesters to advocate abortion
except to cover up the most damning evidence of their crimes.
It is common for Planned Parenthood and similar groups to use 'hard
case' stories in their literature, debates, and presentations. These
people will often talk of twelve- and thirteen year old pregnant girls
(and sometimes, nine- and ten year old girls) who are sexually active or
pregnant. Planned Parenthood, of course, supplies abortion,
contraceptives, and, above all, confidentiality to these young
girls.
We might ask Planned Parenthood who it thinks the male parties to
such sexual activity are. Certainly they are not nine- or ten-year old
boys! These girls are almost always the victims of (step)father/daughter
or big brother/little sister incest. Planned Parenthood and other
pro-abortion and pro-homosexual organizations, by their advocacy of
abortion, are directly helping many incestuous relationships to
continue.
For example, Wardell Pomeroy, who wrote a sex education book that was
endorsed by Planned Parenthood, claimed that
We find many
beautiful and mutually satisfying [sexual] relationships between fathers
and daughters. These may be transient or ongoing, but they have no
harmful effects ... Incest between adults and younger children can also
prove to be a satisfying and enriching experience ... When there is a
mutual and unselfish concern for the other person, rather than a feeling
of possessiveness and a selfish concern with one's own sexual
gratification, then incestuous relationships can and do work out well.
Incest can be a satisfying, non-threatening, and even an enriching
emotional experience, as I said earlier.[19]
And SIECUS (the Sex Education and Information Council of the United
States) alleges that "Most pedophiliacs (people who are sexually
interested in minor children) are gentle and affectionate, and are not
dangerous in the way childmolesters are stereotypically considered to
be."[20]
Finally, Valida Davila of San Diego's homosexual/pederast/pedophile
Childhood Sensuality Circle, makes the ultimate claim: "We believe
children should begin sex at birth. It causes a lot of problems not to
practice incest."[21]
Fetal Deformity.
The primary concern voiced by geneticists in cases
of incest is fetal deformity. However, the vast majority of incest cases
occur between stepfathers and stepdaughters, so there is no increased
probability of fetal deformity in such cases.
It is extremely difficult to measure the frequency of deformity in
babies born of incestuous relationships between genetic fathers and
daughters, because such babies are rare. They are rare because
pregnancies are rare, and the vast majority of these pregnancies end in
abortion, usually at the insistence of the father. Therefore,
conflicting study results are to be expected because the sample
population is so small.
Swedish psychiatrist Dr. Carl Olstrom has heavy experience in the
study of fetal deformities resulting from incest, and says that
"There is no evidence to support the assumption that children
resulting from incestuous relationships [with a father or mother] run a
greater risk of being malformed than other children."[22]
However, three much smaller studies showed serious birth defects in
up to one-fourth of all children that were a product of bloodline
incest, an incidence that is about fifteen times the expected normal
frequency.[23]
From the standpoint of pure eugenics, we must ask ourselves two
questions; (1) "Are handicapped people as valuable as those who are
not handicapped?," and, if the answer to the first question is
"No," we must ask ourselves the second question: "Are we
willing to kill a minimum of three perfectly healthy children for every
one that may have a handicap?"
The Psychological Aspects.
Pro-abortionists sometimes remind
pro-lifers of children with hammers. Everything looks like a nail to
such a child.
The pro-abortionist's 'hammer' is their beloved surgical procedure.
To a hard-core pro-abort, no other solution is possible. This is why
Neofeminists have attacked crisis pregnancy centers and have even
condemned adoption as an alternative to abortion.
Abortion is just as inept a solution for incest as it is for rape or
any other reason especially from the psychological point of view. Incest
expert R. Bruce Sloan, M.D., states that "The psychiatric basis for
terminating the life of an unborn baby incestuously conceived has
absolutely no scientific merit and derives from a blind adherence to a
legal formulation espoused by abortion promoters now including organized
psychiatry."[24]
Georgia Early struck at the heart of the matter when she said that;
When incest is involved, allowing abortion in pregnancy cases
of minors tends to compound the exploitation of the innocent victim and
protect the perpetrator from exposure so that he may continue his
illegal and immoral acts without fear of discovery.
To rehabilitate child abusers, it is necessary to work on their
feelings of self-esteem, their memories of themselves being abused as
children, and to get them to see their own children in a new way.
Abortion sidesteps this very involved process because the child
incestuously pregnant is taken for an abortion and then returned to the
home where the abuse occurred. Abortion also perpetuates the
generational violence where the abused child becomes the child
abuser.[25]
Rape = Wedge for Full Abortion Funding.
I could never, ever have an abortion. Even if I were raped by a
man who was a drug addict, I'd have the baby. And I'd keep it!
Actress Brooke Shields.[26]
Women As Helpless Tools.
It comes as no surprise that pro-abortion
strategists are using rape victims as unknowing tools to drive wedges
into existing laws barring funding for rape and incest victims. As
described in Chapter 17 of Volume I, "Pro-Abortion Propaganda
Stories," these people have no qualms at all about heartlessly
using women, no matter how difficult their situation, to advance their
agenda.
During the time period 1987 to 1990, pro-abortionists vigorously
attacked the Federal ban for funding rape-caused abortions, causing
President George Bush to veto such bills twice.
But the real agenda of the pro-death legislators was not to
obtain abortion funding for rape and incest victims; it was to gain
political capital.
Admissions from the Pro-Aborts.
Speaking for leading pro-abort
Congressman Les AuCoin [D.-olt], legislative aide Ron Fitzsimmons
revealed the true anti-life strategy behind trying to get abortion
funding for rape. In a January 1990 briefing to pro-abortion activists,
he said that the objective of the 1990 session was to write a very
loosely-worded "rape and incest" exception to the Hyde
Amendment. This exception was intended to be open to abuse, so
pro-life congressmen would have no choice but to vote against it and the
President would have no choice but to veto it.
The pro-abortionists would then trumpet the "insensitivity"
of the President and the pro-life congressmen in an attempt to discredit
them and defeat them in the November elections. As Fitzsimmons said
during the briefing session; "It's hard to ignore the rape and
incest victims. But I can speak for my boss, he felt that in the long
term what we want is full Medicaid funding. And the only way we're going
to get that is to get the votes in, for people who will vote that
way."[27]
Is Abortion for Rape Ethical?
All bad precedents began as justifiable measures.
Gaius Julius Caesar.[28]
How Many Victims One Or Two?
There is no question that rape is
traumatic. But why pile trauma upon trauma by insisting on abortion to
'remedy' rape?
As with any other problem pregnancy, the woman's problem is not
that she's pregnant. The main problem is how others treat her.
Rape and incest victims have always unjustly been victims of the
"Scarlet Letter Syndrome," but 'treating' this problem of
societal perspective with abortion is like saying that the woman is a
hopeless case or 'damaged goods.'
What is more caring to sneer at her problem and just tell her to 'get
rid of it,' or to respect the life within her and give her whatever real
help she needs?
Abortion = Infanticide for Many.
According to experts at the
University of British Columbia's Department of Psychiatry,
"Whatever may be the case at the conscious level, at a much deeper
level, abortion is regarded by many women as infanticide."[29]
Obtaining an abortion may not be much of a problem for a hard-core,
heartless pro-abortion Neofeminist, but what about a woman who truly
believes that abortion is the killing of a human being?
According to various polls, more than sixty percent of all women in
the United States believe that the unborn are human beings (see Chapter
76 for documentation regarding this "attitude tracking" public
opinion poll).
In summary, the tragedy is the rape not the child that is
conceived. Contrary to what pro-aborts apparently believe, two
injustices do not equal a right or a healed life. The greatest
pain of the first injustice lasts nine months, but the pain of the
abortion 'remedy' lasts a lifetime.
Some may answer that the woman has a right to be free from assault.
This is true, of course, but in the case of abortion for rape, the
assault has already happened. Just as the woman has a right to be free
from assault, so does her unborn baby. Allowing her abortion for rape
under this argument is like saying that anyone who is assaulted can find
remedy by going out into the street and punching the first person he or
she sees.
The Eugenics Argument.
Some self-proclaimed pro-abortion genetics 'sexperts'
insist that rape-caused pregnancy must end in abortion because
the child (if male) will turn out to be a rapist, as well.
This is utter hogwash. Nobody has ever even attempted to perform a
study that examines the allegation that the tendency to commit rape
or any other crime is hereditary. Psychiatrists and psychologists agree
that the making of a criminal is primarily due to environmental effects.
Many pro-abortionists are so racist, they see dark skin as a sort of
a birth defect. For example, lobbyists for the Medical Association of
Georgia urged Governor Lester Maddox to pass an initial rape and incest
exception for abortion, asking him how he would feel "... if a
White girl got raped by a Negro and then became pregnant."[30]
In any case, how many persons think that there should be capital
punishment for rapists? Obviously, not too many. If this majority of
people do not favor capital punishment for the obviously guilty rapist,
why then should they favor it for the innocent child, who has committed
no crime whatever?
Try This ...
Pro-life debaters might like to try this theoretical
question: Take a newborn baby conceived by rape or incest and lay him
next to a newborn conceived in a loving marriage. Then ask a
pro-abortionist if they could tell you which one was the result of a
rape by comparing their appearance and behavior.
Then try this second question: Would a pro-abortionist think less of
an adult neighbor who was conceived by rape than he would of another
neighbor who was conceived within marriage? The answer (if the pro-abort
still retains a shred of human kindness) should be no. Regardless of the
answer, ask if the pro-abort would kill his neighbor merely because he
or she was conceived as a result of rape? After all, that is what a
woman is doing in cases of abortion for rape and incest.
Pro-abortionists say that they want abortion for rape and incest
instances based purely on the circumstances of the baby's conception.
This is the same as saying that children conceived out of wedlock are
somehow less worthy than those conceived within marriage.
These children used to be called "bastards," and they
carried a heavy load of shame and discrimination throughout their lives.
Now our solution is much simpler.
We just kill them.
This kind of appeal is particularly powerful when addressing high
schoolers, since 50 percent or more are now 'illegitimate,' and most are
painfully aware of the fact.
Pregnancy Prevention.
By denying abortion to a victim of rape, they [pro-lifers] in a
sense become participants in the rape.
Planned Parenthood.[16]
Progesterone Injection.
As described above, only a very tiny
percentage of women who are raped actually become pregnant. The problem
is that many of these women will not know if they are pregnant until
several weeks after the assault. One solution that is often suggested by
social service agencies is to go to a hospital emergency room for an
injection of the female hormone progesterone. The woman might
alternatively take several birth control pills for a 'morning after'
effect.
However, these courses of action will affect a woman's body in three
ways: Suppression of ovulation, thickening of the cervical mucus, and
prevention of implantation. The first mode of operation is non-abortifacient,
the second is moot, and the third is definitely abortifacient in nature.
Diethylstilbestrol (DES).
At one time, the standard postcoital
treatment for rape and incest cases was the administration of
diethylstilbestrol (DES) to prevent pregnancy. However, DES has been
shown to cause unpleasant side-effects, not only to women but to their
daughters as well.
DES is believed to prevent the implantation of a fertilized ovum in
the uterus, and is thus an abortifacient. Dr. William A. Lynch states
that "On all available evidence, DES administered to rape victims
prevents implantation of the fertilized ovum."[31]
Many pro-aborts contend that a ban on abortion would prevent the
administration of post-rape therapies such as those listed above.
However, pro-lifers could use the same logic advanced by pro-aborts when
they advocate menstrual extraction techniques: Anti-abortion
legislation, including the various Human Life Amendments, would not
affect the administration of DES or other drugs postcoitally to rape and
incest victims, because there must be proof that an unborn child exists
if the physician is to be legally protected. Such proof is always
tenuous at best within three days following intercourse.
The Bottom Line.
The vital question here for pro-lifers is this: When
does the actual merging of the sperm and egg take place? Pro-life
researchers say up to a day, while pro-abortion researchers insist that
conception can take place in as little as seven minutes.
Unfortunately, neither side has really hard evidence to back up its
claims, although research is continuing.
References: Rape and Incest Exceptions.
[1] "The Unwanted Child 195 A.D., China." National Right
to Life News, May 1978, page 6.
[2] Looseleaf booklet entitled "Organizing for Action."
Prepared by Vicki Z. Kaplan for the National Abortion Rights Action
League, 250 West 57th Street, New York, N.Y. 10019. See Emily C. Moore,
Ph.D. "The Major Issues and the Argumentation in the Abortion
Debate." Pages 33 to 43.
[3] 'Religious' Coalition for Abortion Rights. Booklet entitled
"Words of Choice." 1991, Washington, D.C. Page 24.
[4] Bernard Nathanson, M.D. Aborting America. Doubleday, 1979,
page 239.
[5] Pro-abortion writer N. Lee. The Search for an Abortionist.
University of Chicago Press, 1969, page 149.
[6] Results of a 1990 Wirthlin poll described in "The
Week." National Review, December 3, 1990, page 12.
[7] "Medicaid-Funded Abortions for Rape and Incest: The Issue
That Isn't." Newsletter of Missouri Citizens for Life.
[8] Ethel Waters, quoted in testimony on July 25, 1983 by Congressman
Thomas J. Bliley, Jr., (R-Va.), and reprinted in the Congressional
Record. Part of an excellent pamphlet printed by the American Life
Lobby entitled "Rape and Incest Exception Not Needed and
Unwarranted." Available from ALL, Post Office Box 490, Stafford,
Virginia 22555. Telephone: (703) 659-4171. Also see Ethel Waters. His
Eye Is On the Sparrow, pages 277 and 278.
[9] Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer. A Woman's Book of Choices:
Abortion, Menstrual Extraction, RU-486. Four Walls Eight Windows
Press, Post Office 548, Village Station, New York, New York 10014. 1992,
271 pages. Page 39.
[10] Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Contraception,
Sterilization and Abortion. New Zealand, 1977.
[11] "TV Program is Source of Made-Up Story." American
Family Association Journal, April 1990, page 4.
[12] Andrew Sheehan. "New Abortion Law Brings More Reports of
Rape." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 25, 1988, page 5.
[13] Ferris B. Lucas, Executive Director, National Sheriff's
Association, July 18, 1977. Quoted by Congressman Thomas J. Bliley (R-Va.)
in July 25, 1983 testimony printed in the Congressional Record.
[14] Described in Eugene F. Diamond, M.D. "Rape and
Abortion." Linacre Quarterly, August 1980.
[15] Quote by Dr. Willard Cates, and NAMBLA information, from Basile
J. Uddo. "On Rape, Incest and the Right to Life." Human
Life Review, Summer 1984, pages 55 to 66.
[16] "Let's Tell the Truth About Abortion." Pamphlet
distributed by Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood. 1985, 22 pages. Fight
Back Press, Post Office Box 61421, Denver, Colorado 80206.
[17] Telephone conversation with Robert Carroll on April 5, 1978.
Quoted by Congressman Thomas J. Bliley (R-Va.) in July 25, 1983
testimony printed in the Congressional Record. Also see the
report on the presentation made at the Symposium on the Psychological
Aspects of Abortion at the Loyola University School of Medicine,
November 1, 1978. Quoted by Congressman Thomas J. Bliley (R-Va.) in July
25, 1983 testimony printed in the Congressional Record.
[18] G. Maloof, M.D., "The Consequences of Incest." The
Psychological Aspects of Abortion. University Publications of
America, 1979, page 74.
[19] Wardell Pomeroy. "A New Look at Incest." Variations
Magazine, 1977, pages 86 to 88, and Forum Magazine, November
1976, pages 84 to 89.
[20] Robert O. Hawkins. "The Uppsala Connection: The Development
of Principles Basic to Education for Sexuality." SIECUS Report,
January 1980.
[21] Valida Davila of San Diego's Childhood Sensuality Circle, quoted
in John Leo. "Cradle-to-Grave Intimacy." Time Magazine,
September 7, 1981, page 69.
[22] Carl Henry Olstrom, M.D. Medical World News, February 4,
1967.
[23] Mary Meehan. "Facing the Hard Cases." Human Life
Review, Summer 1983, pages 19 to 36.
[24] R. Bruce Sloan, M.D. New England Journal of Medicine.
Quoted in G. Maloof, M.D., "The Consequences of Incest." The
Psychological Aspects of Abortion. University Publications of
America, 1979, page 74.
[25] Georgia Early. "Incest, Sexual Child Abuse and
Abortion." Life Advocate, May/June 1980.
[26] Brooke Shields, quoted in the Los Angeles Times, August
10, 1991, and in "Brooke Shields Says She Could Never Have
Abortion." American Family Association Journal, October
1991, page 16.
[27] Richard Doerflinger. "Hyde Amendment to Be Examined By
Congress Again." The [Portland, Oregon] Catholic Sentinel,
November 9, 1990, page 7.
[28] Gaius Julius Caesar, quoted in The Conspiracy of Catiline
by Sallist in the 1st Century B.C. Also quoted in Jonathon Green. The
Cynic's Lexicon. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1984, 220 pages.
[29] Ian Hunt, M.D., University of British Columbia's Department of
Psychiatry. American Psychiatric Association's Psychiatric News,
March 3, 1978.
[30] Sagar C. Jain and Laurel F. Gooch. Georgia Abortion Act of
1968: A Study in the Legislative Process. 1972: University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, pages 56 and 57.
[31] William A. Lynch, M.D. Linacre Quarterly, August 1977.
Resources and Further Reading: Rape and Incest Exceptions.
Two organizations that help rape or incest victims regain control of
their lives without resorting to murdering their preborn children are
listed below.
Life After Assault League (LAAL)
1336 West Lindbergh
Appleton, Wisconsin 54914
Telephone: (414) 739-4489
Fortress International
Post Office Box 7352
Springfield, Illinois 62791
Telephone: (217) 529-9545
Lynda Allison. Lisa Said No.
Hazelwood, Missouri: Word Aflame
Press. 1989, 188 pages. Reviewed by Ed Hurlbutt on page 53 of the
August-September 1989 ALL About Issues. The story of how a young
girl chooses life over death after being sexually molested.
Jeff Lane Hansley (editor). The Zero People: Essays on Life.
Servant Books, 1983. 310 pages. Reviewed by Douglas Johnson on page 9 of
the November 24, 1983 issue of National Right to Life News. An
anthology of 26 essays on the life issues, most of which are extracted
from the Human Life Review. This book is useful to all pro-life
activists, no matter what their experience level, because the
accomplished writers bring together all of the life issues, explain
them, and show how they are inextricably intertwined. See especially
Basile J. Uddo. "The Hard Cases: Rape, Incest, and Public
Policy," pages 109 to 122.
Thomas W. Hilgers, M.D., Dennis J. Horan, and David Mall (editors). New
Perspectives on Human Abortion.
Frederick, Maryland: Aletheia Books,
University Publications of America, 1981. A superb compilation of essays
by the most experienced pro-lifers in the land, dealing with virtually
all of the basic issues involved in taking human life. An excellent
primer for any pro-life activist. Articles include Makhorn and Kolan,
"Sexual Assault and Pregnancy." This article discusses the
"Scarlet Letter Syndrome" as it applies to rape and incest
victims.
David Mall and Walter F. Watts, M.D. (editors). The Psychological
Aspects of Abortion.
Sponsored by the Department of Obstetrics and
Gynecology, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University. 1979:
University Publications of America, Inc, Washington, DC. 156 pages.
Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174,
telephone: (703) 586-4898. This collection of studies covers
post-abortion psychosis, abortion and the consequent abuse of siblings,
the psychic causes of the abortion mentality, and how abortion
depersonalizes both the individual and society in general. Written in
layman's language, easily readable, and filled with good and
indisputable information. See especially George E. Maloof, M.D.
"The Consequences of Incest: Giving and Taking Life," pages 74
to 89.
Robert G. Marshall and Charles Donovan. Blessed Are the Barren:
The Social Policy of Planning Parenthood.
Ignatius Press, San
Francisco. Reviewed by Mary Meehan on page 5 of the November 29, 1992 National
Catholic Register. This volume provides lots of detail on the
Planned Parenthood connections with racist eugenics, the effort to
capture the Black leadership, and its ability to tap into hundreds of
millions of dollars of tax and private money.
Lothrop Stoddard, Ph.D. The Rising Tide of Color Against White
World-Supremacy.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1921. Reprinted
in 1971 by Negro Universities Press, Westport, Connecticut. A classic
racist book that clearly and vividly demonstrates the kind of thinking
that led to eugenics, the current-day racist abortion program in the
United States, and the Nazi mentality.
Jack C. Willke, M.D. "Assault Rape and Pregnancy" (3
parts).
National Right to Life News, July 17, August 21, and
October 9, 1986. An outstanding encapsulation of all of the important
points surrounding the rape/incest debate. This series, which is must
reading for anyone who hopes to seriously debate or research this issue,
is available in the archives of most state and local Right to Life
chapters.
Kay Zibolsky. How You Can Live Again After Assault.
Wilson,
North Carolina: Star Books, 1989. 93 pages. Reviewed by Judie Brown on
page 45 of the May 1989 issue of All About Issues. The story of a
victim of rape and how she recovered and is reaching out to other
victims.
© American Life League BBS — 1-703-659-7111
This is a chapter of the Pro-Life Activist’s Encyclopedia published
by American Life League.
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