Should Rape Victims Abort Their Unborn Children?
Setting the Stage: Understanding the Issue
Rape is an act of violence that makes a victim go through extreme emotional and physical pain (Hänel, 2018). Pregnancies resulting from rape make these traumas even worse for the victims. They are mentally disturbed and have difficulty making the right choice of either aborting the unborn child or continuing with the pregnancy. No doubt, the decision is extremely personal to the rape victim and involves very mixed feelings and emotions. Along with personal feelings, many factors (ethical questions, psychological struggles, legal challenges etc.) also guide the victim’s decision. This essay aims to explore these factors and explain how these factors lead individuals to make decisions. This essay also emphasises the fact that the decision to abort the unborn by the horrific act of rape should be left completely to the individual and no pressure should be exerted on the victim to make a specific decision. Every rape victim must be given the right to make this decision themselves based on their personal and religious beliefs and their unique situation. This article will provide real-life examples and stories of rape victims who aborted their unborn child and ended their pregnancies to get an understanding of why the choices were made and what were the effects of abortion. The major goal of this article is to highlight the importance of individual decision-making in this complicated issue and argue that freedom should be given to rape victims to make decisions about themselves without any pressure from the external environment.
Ethical Crossroads: Navigating Moral Dilemmas
The ethical considerations and debate in the case of rape and abortion are very complex and multifaceted. Two types of perspectives are present related to the abortion of an unborn child due to rape. The opponents of abortion stress that every individual (unborn child) no matter how they are conceived (even after rape) has the right to live. This argument is based upon the concept of sanctity of life, a religious belief within the Catholic Church (Lockhart et al., 2023). According to this belief, abortion is an immoral act and it is unacceptable. An example of this concept was deeply rooted in Ireland before the year 2018, victims were not allowed to abort their unborn children even in the cases of rape because of the influence of the Catholic Church that life should be protected at all costs no matter the situation (The Irish Times, 2018). The 2018 referendum in Ireland legalised abortion and gave freedom to people to make their own decisions.
However, the proponents of abortion are of the view that no rape victim should be forced to continue with the pregnancy. They believe that it is an additional violation to the victim along with the rape which increases their traumas even more. This ethical perspective is based on the concept of autonomy, which states that every individual has the right to make their decisions no matter the situation and no external factors should influence what they choose to do (Abu-Baker and Mrayyan, 2020). The proponents are of the view that an individual has the right to make decisions about their bodies, they have a choice whether they want to continue with the pregnancy or they want to abort it. They say that rape is already a very big traumatic event for any individual and forcing a person to conceive, only increases their traumas and does not help them in any way. An example of this is the rape case of a 10-year-old Brazilian girl by her stepfather. Even in the cases of rape, Brazil had very restrictive laws, abortion was not legal in the country. However, due to the extremely young age and severe trauma, the young girl was allowed to terminate the pregnancy. This decision had a lot of opposition from anti-abortion groups, but the healthcare providers and the family of the young girl supported this decision because they knew that continuing the pregnancy for a 10-year-old girl would have been extremely difficult and traumatic for her affecting her physical and mental health (BBC News, 2020).
The Heart of the Matter: Psychological and Emotional Impact
Rape has a severe psychological impact on the victims and it remains with them through the years because these events are difficult to forget. It takes a huge amount of time for people to move on and continue with their normal lives. One of the most common psychological impact that rape has on its victims is the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Along with that people face various psychological issues (depression, anxiety) and many more (Campbell, 2018). The psychological effects become even more severe when the rape results in pregnancy. When the victim is given the choice to continue with the pregnancy of the rapist’s child it becomes even more overwhelming for the victim leading to more psychological issues. According to Fosters (2018), carrying a pregnancy after rape acts as a constant reminder of rape for the victims. It reminds them of the physical and mental trauma that they went through which results in more psychological distress for them. According to a study, increased physiological distress due to rape can lead to various severe mental health issues (e.g. including chronic depression, suicidal thoughts, and severe anxiety). Also in some societies, people tend to blame the victim instead of the rapist, which further increases the burden on the mental health of the victim making them feel unwanted in society (Chaudhury et al., 2019). According to research women who tend to terminate pregnancies (abortion) after rape, feel empowered and relieved. Having an abortion after rape is their way to gain back what they lost i.e. control over their bodies and lives (McReynolds, 2019). Another research states that women who terminated their pregnancies after rape reported that aborting the unborn child after rape helped them begin the healing process and they felt they were making the right decision (Harrison and Obstetricians, 2020). However, this feeling might not be mutual for all women, because everyone has their own mental capacity and ways of thinking and perceiving different situations. An example of this is the case of a woman in the United States who was raped and chose to terminate her pregnancy. While sharing her story with the public she says that her decision of abortion helped her heal from the trauma and start again her normal life. She felt it was essential to do so to recover from the assault (Jones, 2018). However, some victims are of the view that the pregnancies should not be terminated because the child is innocent and has the right to live.
The Legal Landscape: Rights and Regulations
Every country has different legal rights for the rape victims regarding the abortion. Some countries have given the right to women for abortion and have made it legal. Other countries have prohibited abortion no matter what the situation (even rape). Countries like the US, have given women the right to abortion and have made it legal. The right to abort depends upon the state in which the person is living. For example in the states of California and New York, very few restrictions are present on abortion and a lot of rights are provided to rape victims. However, the rape victim has to face certain challenges (waiting periods, parental consent for minors etc.) when carrying out the procedure of abortion. In the states of Texas and Alabama, abortion is illegal and restricted even in the cases of rape. Women have not been given the right to abort the rapist’s unborn child, for this purpose they tend to travel long distances, to other states to get the abortion (Davis, 2022).
However, in some countries even more restrictive laws are present. For example, in El Salvador (a country in Central America), women are not allowed to do abortions even if they are raped. The country implements various penalties (fines, imprisonment) on women who seek abortion (Centre for Reproductive Rights, 2018). Implementation of such restrictive laws violates the right of rape victims and also increases their mental and physical trauma because of carrying the forced pregnancy. The United Nations (UN) is of the view that the laws made by El Salvador have violated the rights of women and have called for reforms for the protection of rape victims (Zorzi, 2021). In European countries, rape victims are protected and are given some rights. For example, in Sweden, abortion is made accessible to women who are raped but under certain circumstances (up to 18 weeks of pregnancy and in cases of severe fetal abnormalities). Similarly, the Netherlands supports rape victims and allows them to have an abortion. In country like Africa, abortion is only allowed when the situation is severe (to protect the woman’s life) making it difficult for women to access abortion (Levels, Sluiter and Need, 2019).
Societal Reflections: Social and Cultural Views
The decisions of rape victims about abortion are deeply influenced by the cultural and societal factors. In some countries, along with traumatic personal violation, rape carries social stigma i.e. rape victims are considered undesirable in society. In many conservative societies, rape and abortion are considered a stigma and shame in the society (Deitz et al, 2019). Victims are sometimes forced to carry out the pregnancies and conceive the child even if is against their wishes. People (rape victims) are forced to do so if they want to fit in society because they fear that they will be judged and society will not accept them. So, as a result, women tend to carry out pregnancies while putting their mental and physical health on the line. The fear of not being accepted in society after carrying out an abortion is a huge factor that makes women make this decision. Taking the example of rape victims in South-Asian countries (e.g. India) the rape victims are considered a disgrace to society, they are blamed rather than supported in cases of rape (Elul, 2021). Societies do not accept such victims and they do not allow them to abort the child. In such countries, family honour is considered very important and people make decisions just to satisfy the society and uplift their name without understanding the potential problems and their effects on human life. The inadequate support system also creates problems for the rape victims. In countries like South Africa, rape victims are forced into isolation and society does not accept them. So, women a forcefully made to carry out pregnancy even if they do not desire it (Puri, Ingham and Matthews, 2018). The provision of a support system, provision of rights and empowerment of women is extremely crucial in the cases of rape. Women should be made to decide for themselves if they want to carry out the pregnancy and no social or cultural pressure should be exerted to mould their decisions.
Final insights
To conclude, this exploratory article highlighted the issue of rape and abortion in the society. It provided information on the varying ethical views about abortion on how some people are in its support and others are not. It provided different examples and cases in which abortion was made legal in rape cases in countries where abortion was declared illegal previously. The article also highlighted the mental health issues and problems victims face after being raped and how it adds up to their existing traumas. Legal factors and laws of various countries and their impact on the rape victims were also discussed. Lastly, it highlighted the impact of social and cultural norms on decisions about abortion.
References
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BBC News (2020) Brazil abortion: 10-year-old girl in the rape case has an abortion after court battle. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-53792259 (Accessed: 17 August 2024).
Campbell, R. (2018) ‘The psychological impact of rape victims’, American Psychologist, 63(8), p. 702.
Chaudhury, S., Bakhla, A.K., Murthy, P.S. and Jagtap, B. (2019) ‘Psychological aspects of rape and its consequences’, Psychol Behav Sci Int J, 2, pp. 555–86.
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Hänel, H.C. (2018) What is Rape?: Social Theory and Conceptual Analysis. transcript Verlag, p. 282.
Harrison, D. and Obstetricians, P.L. (2020) Rape and Abortion.
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Levels, M., Sluiter, R. and Need, A. (2019) ‘A review of abortion laws in Western-European countries: A cross-national comparison of legal developments between 1960 and 2010’, Health Policy, 118(1), pp. 95–104.
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