Rape and Abortion

Abortion. This is currently one of the most debated topic. This is even considered in some of the laws that are being legislated in the senate. This topic can be linked to life, morality, child rights, civil rights and many more other topics. When I asked this questions, I received mixed responses but all are eager to share their ideas. 


Warning: Some verbatim may be against your own standards, If you're not open minded enough, you may stop here.  

Abortion in general is considered as an immoral act. It's being described as some sort of murder. In several states or countries, abortion is considered a criminal act that could result to jail time, fine or both. However, everyone agrees that this is acceptable whenever a health risk is present. But how about the rape victims? Can we still consider abortion as immoral when they themselves are the victims?

Rape is a heinous crime that leaves many victims traumatized all throughout their lives. Scars may heal but the nightmarish experience still haunts them all throughout their life, They say that rape victims can forgive but cannot ever forget. So what if this incident leads to an unwanted pregnancy?


Is it acceptable for rape victims to consider abortion even in the absence of any health risk?

I conducted a mini survey among the middle-age group. (20-40 years old). Out of 60 respondents, 43% or 26 people is highly against abortion. 40% or 24 respondents said that this should be decided by the victim herself and only 17% or 10 people have agreed that the child should be aborted. 

Disclaimer: Results may vary on a larger scale

Flor, a Call Center Consultant said, "The victim should receive psychological help but abortion should never be an option. Never!"


Rose agrees to this by stating that, "Why kill the baby if it's healthy? If she cannot accept the baby or do not want to take care of it, then have the baby adopted. The baby is another victim of the rapist."

This pro-birth argument have been repeated in several discussions. It's not the baby's fault. Yes, I agree to that. But, do you have any idea how an adopted child feels? Can we really say that the kid can be happy? Or lucky?

Dave argued, "What if that kid have been fated to be successful. By aborting them, we will never have the chance to know what they can do." 

Yes, we will never know. The kid could be the next president or the doctor that could find a cure for AIDS or the gut that could invent the time machine. But, at the same time, there is also a chance that he could be the next Adolf Hitler, or could be the next Green River Killer or the leader of ISIS. We can never tell. Everything will be left to chance. Once born, it will now a matter of how they are going to be brought up.

The other half of the argument says that the victim herself should decide on this. We cannot tell them what to do but rather just provide advise.  Chelsea said., "For me, the rapist is at fault. And whatever the lady decides to do, its all up to her. We cant just impose our personal values on others because we have different points of view. Maybe she had her life figured out already, and the rape incident deprived her of living that life. And whether she chooses to abort or not, the people will always judge her. Some may even say that it's her fault. Lets say the baby will be born and adopted,  can we guarantee that the child will receive love and support? Or will the child spend his childhood waiting in the orphanage? He could be lonely there. I'm not justifying abortion, I'm just saying that people aren't the same. And I think that we should respect what they want to do because rape is depressing. We have different pain capacity. I'd rather see a happy single lady than to see a mother beating the kid because she's being reminded of her painful past whenever she sees him."

I personally agree that it should always be the victim's decision. Choices should be presented and all necessary help should be provided but we cannot dictate what she should do. Margaret is an example of a rape victim where she was forced to bear her child because her religion and her family did not allow her to take abortion. She said, "I could not touch her. I could not even look at her. I hated her so much that I do not want anything to do with her."

This incident damaged her for some time and they never saw each other for over a decade. She managed to accept her daughter already but she admits that she still feels angry or indifferent with her kid. "She reminds me of her father everytime I see her. I try to put it off but I just can't forget it. I wish I could I wish I really could." 

Margaret is seeing her daughter regularly now but they still live apart from each other, She's now married with two daughters and living happily. Her story somehow ended good but that's only a dot in a big picture.  There's still a lot of stories out there and I'm sure that these stories are worth discussing.