ABORTION IN RAPE CASES

ABORTION IN RAPE CASES

In many countries abortion is considered legal but not all the women in those countries consider it an option for unwanted pregnancies. Abortion in itself is a sensitive issue and has cause some great debates. The argument is that women should be allowed to do whatever they please with their bodies the other side is that abortion is denying a life, denying the would-be person of living. In the Philippines, the said act is highly illegal and the churches vehemently disapprove of the act. But what about a women who has been raped and would not want to be reminded of that trauma or assault? Should they be allowed to choose to whether continue or have the pregnancy terminated?

GUIDE QUESTIONS

1.In case of pregnancy due to rape, shall we consider abortion?
2.What should be favoured, the psychological health of the mother or the life of the unborn child?
3.If you are the pregnant rape victim, what would you do? Abort the unborn child or continue the pregnancy?
4.Do you think terminating the pregnancy will terminate problem of the mother?
5.Will abortion relieve the mother or will it cause further psychological pain?
6.Is abortion the last option for this case?
7.Should we consider the right of the unborn child to live?
8.As nurses, should we advocate abortion in this case?
9.Is quality of life of the mother is more important than the quality of life of the baby?
10.Does advocating abortion in this case affect the responsibility of nurses in preserving life?

From Group 2 (Abigail Santos): To the group, I would like to comment about the seemingly 1) cut short introduction of your issue regarding abortion of pregnant women who were victims of rape; 2) Your stand was not clearly stated; 3) Abortion of unborn children of rape victims is immoral in itself, it will be a very hard battle to win over especially here in the Philippines (a conservative and Catholic country); 4) If ever this will be legalized as a law, how sure are you that those who claim to be rape victims were really abducted in the first place? People will say anything just to have an abortion especially when they are not prepared of the parental responsibilities.

Though there are cases that a woman was raped and beccame pregnant becuase of that crime, abortion is against the moral teachings of the church. Abortion can be an option to forget the traumatic incident but there are also ways in the schience of psychology and psychiatry that a person can be cured.

Here is a quote from the book, purpose driven life of rick warren, "Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test. You are always being tested. God constantly watches your response to people, problems, success, conflict, illness, disappointment, and even the weather! He even watches the simplest actions such as when you open a door for others, when you pick up a piece of trash, or when you're polite toward a clerk or waitress." -- P.43. If a woman aborts a child due to rape cases then a person might end the issue temporarily but personal happiness and fullfilment were not met.

Abortion is much more like a murder. Abortion in some countries is legalized and in some cases it may be allowed because the life of the mother is endangered. However, it may not be an excuse to legalized abortion for rape pregnancies. There are other options than killing the unborn-have the baby adopted by couples who cannot conceive. Tragic cases such as rape causes mental health trauma to the women but is it enough to take away the right of the unborn child? A homicide of another is never justified to relieve one of emotional distress. It will only add to the emotional trauma of the victim. And also two wrongs do not make a right. Moreover, legalized abortion may also promote PMS in the sense that it may be an excuse for having the pregnancy terminated if the couples are not yet ready for parental responsibility.

"A child does not lose its right to life simply because its father or its mother was a sexual criminal or a deviant.", this how theologians views the incidence.
Some pro-choice advocates claim that the pro-lifer lacks compassion, since the pro-lifer's position on rape and incest forces a woman to carry her baby against her will. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is the rapist who has already forced this woman to carry a child, not the pro-lifer. The pro-life advocate merely wants to prevent another innocent human being (the unborn entity) from being the victim of a violent and morally reprehensible act (abortion), for two wrongs do not make a right.In addition to this, abortion is consider a crime, a mortal sin in our country. Besides these babies are innocent and they have the right to be born.

According to some psychological studies have shown that, when given the proper support, most pregnant rape victims progressively change their attitudes about their unborn child from something repulsive to someone who is innocent and uniquely worthwhile. So as nurses we must morally support our patients, protect their privacy and give extra care.

Our group believe that it is unethical to consider abortion in case of pregnancy due to rape. According to Dignitas Personae "The Human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception."

Our group believe that it is unethical to consider abortion in case of pregnancy due to rape. According to Dignitas Personae "The Human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception."

As nurses, we should strongly oppose to abortion being an option to unwanted pregnancies. The innocent little human being on the rape victim's womb should not be the one to suffer on this crime.
Quoting a statement from a pro-life site, it says, "Abortion does not solve rape. It simply transforms the victim into a victimizer."

I strongly disagree on abortion as a solution for rape cases. According to David C. Reardon, Ph.D. in his article entitled Rape, Incest and Abortion: Searching Beyond the Myths, he stated that the reasons why raped women choose abortion in this case were as followed: it will help them to put the assault behind them, recover more quickly, and avoid the additional trauma of giving birth to a “rapist’s child.” But it is necessary to bring abortion to the picture? Rape is the forcible imposition of a man on a woman for sexual intercourse. But will abortion now be best for her, or will it bring her more harm yet? What has happened and its damage has already occurred. She must ultimately be more mature and more at peace with herself if she could remember that, even though she became pregnant unwillingly, She nevertheless solved her problem by being unselfish, by giving of herself and of her love to an innocent baby, who had not asked to be created, to deliver, perhaps to place for adoption, if she decides that is what is best for her baby (Willke2006).

In cases of rape, the rate of pregnancy is actually very rare. This is due to several factors which may affect conception. The victim is in immense emotional shock and her body in turn is affected. Statistics show that the rate of miscarriage is higher in these circumstances. A major factor contributing to the rare occurrence of conception in cases of rape is psychological trauma. Stress has been known to alter bodily functions, the menstrual cycle included. And in order for a woman to conceive a complex blend of hormones must be formed. The production of these certain hormones is easily affected by emotions, in which of course the rape itself factors in greatly. Hence, the chances of actual conception—ovulation, fertilization, implantation—for the rape victim are considerably lowered(Troubled Teens Inf0 2008). Why did you choose this topic?how is this considered as an emergent and contemporary issue?

We are sorry to have uploaded a very short introduction and unclear citation of our stand. Here it goes the complete presentation of our topic.

Abortion, the ending of pregnancy and expulsion of the embryo or fetus, generally before the embryo or fetus is capable of surviving on its own. The matter of abortion raises many personal issues for many people as it deals with life. When has abortion been morally accepted in the Philippines?
Rape is defined as sexual intercourse forced on a person without his or her permission. Victims of rape suffer physical and mental trauma. Rape can never be justifiable as it is immoral.

We can simply say abortion and rape is immoral. But how about if we look into the of issue of abortion in rape cases? How do we stand as nurses? Shall we be pro-life or pro-abortion? One our responsibilities as nurses is to preserve life. What is then more important? The new life of the unborn child, or the life of the mother? What is then be our priority? The psychological health of the rape victim? Or the embryo that is soon to become fetus which also means life?

We as a group would stand to protect the life of the unborn child during cases of pregnancy during rape. We have sworn on our oaths as nurses that we are to protect the lives of people. We are pro-life. We are not in favor of abortion for we believe it is immoral in whatever aspect you will look into. One of the ten commandments of God is “Thou shall not kill”. We cannot kill a life or we break the laws of God. We cannot make exceptions when it comes to ending a life. As we all know, life is such an important matter and a very sensitive issue. Abortion is not an end to the problem of a raped victim. The violence of abortion parallels the violence of rape. Abortion does not bring healing to a rape victim. A child is a child regardless of the circumstances of his conception. No adverse circumstance for one human being changes the nature and worth of another human being. Laws must not be built on exceptional cases. (Randy Alcorn, 2008). Simply we cannot say yes to abortion just because the baby is a product of violence which we don’t want a mother who is mature enough to understand crircumstances. Every life is a gift from God. We can’t be selfish to a child who wants to live. Who can guess who can that child become in the future?

There have been differing interpretations internationally of whether the right to life applies to the unborn child (Jayawickrama, 2002). The ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) declares that 'every human being' has the inherent right to life, while in respect of other rights. According to Fleming and Hains: "The right to life of all human beings has the nature of an intransgressible norm already contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 and the Declaration of the Rights of the Child 1959.
Under international law, the unborn child is protected, and it was not permissible at this late stage to attempt to allow a liberal abortion agenda under the Convention for the Rights of the Child.We cannot put the burden or the wage of sin on the innocent child. Randy Alcorn (2008) states that rape is never the fault of the child; the guilty party, not an innocent party, should be punished.

In addition, we have treatments and rehabilitations for a raped victim. Saving one life is heavier than saving psychological health. Abortion is not the last option. If the mother will think of it as a memory of the painful and traumatizing past, she has choices to let her child be adopted. Many parents are not blessed to have a child and for sure, there are many of them would willingly adopt a child. If the mother is thinking of not wanting to bear pain and difficulty for 9 months of pregnancy, here’s a question. What is 9 months of sacrifice to years of life of a innocent child? The mother has already experienced a life with happiness and witnessed the beauty of life, who is she to deprive a child of that?

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/abortion.html
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001955.htm
http://www.epm.org/artman2/publish/Prolife_abortion/rape_incest.shtml

To the Group 2: Thank you for the comments. We would like to apologize for the minimized introduction of our topic as there are some misunderstandings in our group. We would appreciate if you review our detailed introduction with our stand clearly stated as it was posted earlier.
Yes you are right that most Filipinos are against in abortion that is why we cannot simply propose abortion just to erase a rape victim’s past. Considering that it will be legalized in the country, for sure the law makers will see to it that it is a product of violence and not pleasure. This is a very sensitive issue and our government will make sure that it will come through a rigorous process to have the assurance that there is an unwanted rape incident.

To Rayhan Ramos:
Thank you for the comment. It is true that abortion is not an answer to forget a traumatic incident. And I agree that a rape victim can be cured since we have treatments and rehabilitations for psychologically ill patients. I agree to what Rick Warren has said because our God sees everything, He even knows what we are thinking of and He challenges us with problems to test our faith and to keep us strong. I believe that if the end of suffering is temporary after abortion because we all know that memories are hard to erase. That person will always be reminded in the future time that she has killed an innocent child.

To zakediah12:
Thank you for the comments. Yes you are right that abortion is much more like a murder as they are both killing a life whether embryo, fetus or adult. According to Dr.Balein, professor in Bioethics, only the Philippines and Malta are the only countries not legalizing abortion. If there are issues that endangers the life of the mother, therapeutic abortion is being done. Yes you are right that an unwanted child may be put into an orphanage or be given as blessing to sterile couples. We don’t think that it is enough to deprive the child’s right to live for the sake of curing mental trauma of the mother. We can no longer erase the fact that she has experienced violence so why still kill a child? We think that it will add more to the mother’s depression if she will commit a heavy sin which is abortion. Yes that is right that is why we are not promoting abortion.

To arni_joy:
Yes you have point. People change. Attitudes change due to many circumstances. Yes it is true that it true because as nurses we are supporter, counselor, care-givers and advocates of our patients.
A child conceived by rape is as precious as a child conceived by love, because a child is a child. The point is not how he was conceived but that he was conceived. He is not a despicable “product of rape,” but a unique and wonderful creation of God (Randy Alcorn,2008).

To ecarg_b2:
Yes you are right that it is unethical to consider abortion in cases of pregnancy due to rape. There is a close parallel between the violent attack on an innocent woman that happens in a rape and the violent attack on a innocent child that happens in an abortion. Both are done in response to a subjective and misguided sense of need, and both are done at the expense of an innocent person. The woman might not hate her child the way the rapist might hate his victim, but this is no consolation to the child. Regardless of the motives or disposition of his mother, he is just as brutally killed. The violence of abortion is no solution to the violence of rape. The killing of the innocent by abortion is no solution to the hurting of the innocent by rape(Randy Alcorn,2008). We have to respect life regardless of the maturity of the person whether embryo or an adult.

To kimmina :
Yes you are right because we nurses are ought to preserve life and favouring abortion would mislead our responsibility. A child conceived by rape is as precious as a child conceived by love, because a child is a child. The point is not how he was conceived but that he was conceived(Randy Alcorn,2008). Many women report that their abortions felt like a degrading and brutal form of medical rape. Moreover, "after any abortion, it is common for women to experience guilt, depression, feelings of being 'dirty,' resentment of men, and lowered self-esteem … these feelings are identical to what women typically feel after rape. Abortion, then, only adds to and accentuates the traumatic feelings associated with sexual assault." Women who go through with abortion find that abortion itself is the real revictimization (Matt Kaufman,2004).

To ceemendoza:
The woman might not hate her child the way the rapist might hate his victim, but this is no consolation to the child. Regardless of the motives or disposition of his mother, he is just as brutally killed. The violence of abortion is no solution to the violence of rape. The killing of the innocent by abortion is no solution to the hurting of the innocent by rape(Randy Alcorn,2008). Truly, the mother has other choices other than aborting the child but giving the child for adoption.

As for the comment of ms Abby
regarding to how to find out if the women is a case of pregnancy induced rape, this is an ethicolegal case there are protocols in different health facilities that govern such issues in determining it, our groups issue is about the morality of abortion in woman with pregnancy induced rape.

As for ms.Carisa
Based from the UP Population Institute, the study estimates between 300,000 to 500,000 obtain induced abortions "annually" in the Philippines, and one-third of women who experience an unintended pregnancies ends up to abortion, and nearly half of pregnancies each year end in an induced abortion or an unplanned birth. So we see's it as an contemporary issue.
and as we all know one of the reasons of unintended pregnancies are pregnancy induced rape.