One of the most difficult questions for pro-life people to answer is, “How can you argue abortion is wrong when a woman has been raped?”
I can see why folks get pretty perplexed when they hear this question. I have a wife, nieces, and a sister. I love these women in my life, and it’s hard for me even to think about the possibility that they could be raped. When rape happens, we must have the utmost compassion for the woman, because even though less than 1% abortions are in cases of rape, it’s 100% for her.
But when it comes to the morality of aborting a child that results from a rape, it’s important to consider what makes the act of rape so horrifying, and then ask ourselves if the act of abortion is similar.
What makes rape so terrible is that a powerful person takes advantage of a vulnerable person and uses their power to commit a heinous act.
At its core, abortion pits a woman (who has power) against her unborn child (who is vulnerable). The abortion issue spins around empowerment. When a woman says, “My body, my choice,” that’s a power statement. She’s saying that to the child, society, and the father of the child. If she has an abortion, she uses her power to end the life of someone – her vulnerable unborn baby
On the other side of the coin, when a woman who was raped rejects abortion, the reasoning she most often gives is that she refuses to let the rapist turn her into someone like him. He used his power against her when she was vulnerable, but she sees the same power dynamic at play and refuses to act against her unborn child and create a second victim of the rape. And that’s why we celebrate women who choose life in the face of such terrible personal trauma.
So, when pro-life people are confronted with this question, we should say that we are against abortion for exactly the same reason why we are against rape. We are against the powerful using their power to take advantage of the vulnerable.
We can make additional, compelling points and I talk about them in an episode of CareCast, Care Net’s podcast titled “How Should We Address Abortion in Cases of Rape?“