On Defense of Life: When Pregnancy Results from Rape
By Karen Young

As pro-life supporters we are often confronted with difficult questions on life issues. Beginning with this issue of LifeCanada News, we will be featuring a regular column entitled ‘In Defense of Life,’ offering pro-life responses to challenging life issues. We hope this column will serve as a valuable educational tool for our readers.

The Issue:

Polls have consistently shown that a majority of Canadians do not favor abortion. Many people, however, will concede to abortion in the ‘difficult’ cases. One such difficult case is that of women who conceive a child as a result of rape. Abortion advocates frequently refer to pregnancy resulting from rape as an argument for legalized abortion.

The Facts:

The actual number of women who are sexually assaulted and/or raped each year in Canada is not known. In 1982, the last year Statistics Canada recorded sexual assault cases, approximately 2,500 Canadian women were victims of rape. According to US statistics, about 1% of rape cases result in pregnancy.

Did you know that most women who conceive a child as a result of rape do NOT choose abortion? In a nine-year survey conducted by the Elliot Institute, it was found that 73% of rape victims chose to carry their pregnancy to term. Why? It was discovered that these women chose not to abort because i) they could not imagine allowing their unborn child or themselves to be subjected to any further violence through abortion ii) they believed that while their child was conceived as a result of a terrible action the baby still had worth and a purpose and that there was a reason the child came into being iii) they saw themselves as a victim to a horrible crime and could not imagine allowing their innocent unborn child to become a victim of abortion as a result of their decision iv) they felt that if they could carry their child to term they would in some way have turned an evil into something good.

The Elliot Institute also found that 43% of rape victims who choose to abort their child “felt pressured or strongly directed by family or health care workers to choose an abortion.” It is interesting that of the women who chose to abort, a total of 93% who responded to further questions in the survey indicated that having the abortion was not a good decision and they would not recommend abortion to other women in the same circumstances.

Most abortions procured today are not for reasons of victimization. According to the Guttmacher Institute, affiliated with Planned Parenthood, rape is cited as the reason a woman chooses to abort in only 1% of all abortion cases.

Abortion as a response to rape does not take into account the overall physical, emotional and psychological health of the rape victim. The mental trauma women suffer after a sexual assault will likely be compounded by the physical and psychological risks associated with abortion.

Finally, we must consider not only the victim of rape but the child conceived as a result. It is not the child’s fault that his/her conception was the result of rape. As pro-life people, we believe that all life is sacred and that includes the life of a child conceived under horrific circumstances. To punish the child for the actions of the father is unjust—this is reiterated by most rape victims who choose to keep their child.

The Arguments:

• Almost three-quarters of women who conceive a child as a result of rape do not choose abortion.
• Of rape victims who do abort their child, almost half felt that they were coerced into the decision and over 90% felt that the abortion was a mistake and would not suggest abortion for other women in the same situation.
• When it comes to reasons why women actually choose abortion, rape accounts for only 1%.
• Abortion after rape doubles the trauma experienced by the woman, compounding her emotional and psychological suffering by following the trauma of rape with the trauma of abortion.
• All human life is sacred. To allow abortion in cases of rape punishes the unborn child. It is not the child’s fault that he/she was conceived as a result of rape.

Karen Young is the offi ce manager for LifeCanada.