[TW for anti-choice narratives, incest/rape.]
Many people who oppose abortion believe that there should be exceptions for incest/rape and health danger to the mother. Having grown up Mormon, I can say definitively that the LDS church teaches those exceptions, despite also teaching that abortion is "one of the most revolting and sinful practices in this day" (President Spencer W. Kimball, 1982). I don't know specifically about other faiths, but the concept of exceptions to the rule is common.
But, what happens when the rule prevents exceptions?
I used to be pro-life (with exceptions), just as the Church taught. During those years, through my exultation over the passage of each new anti-choice law, it never occurred to me that those same laws made it harder for those "exceptional" people to get the care they needed. The problem was so abstract to me that I never saw the need to put any further thought into it. In my mind, the exceptions were so far removed from the rule that they could always get an abortion, no problem.
The reality is, every bill that restricts abortion in any way also restricts abortion for the "exceptional" people. Is that really a price worth paying? Forcing a 13-year-old girl to carry her incestuous baby to term because the brother that raped her wouldn't allow her to seek help until the pregnancy became so obvious that it could no longer be ignored - and by then, had passed 20 weeks or whatever other arbitrary deadline? Sentencing a woman to death because she's carrying a 27-week-old stillborn fetus that is poisoning her? A woman who couldn't put words to the rape she suffered until halfway through the resulting pregnancy? A woman who promptly reported her rape to authorities only to be met with ridicule and disbelief, and thus doesn't have an in-process court case to present as proof necessary to abort? These situations are not as rare as one would like to hope.
With the mindset of "exceptions", these things are allowed to happen.
There are no such thing as exceptions, and abortion is infinitely more complex than "KILLING BAYBEEZ".
Showing posts with label pro-choice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pro-choice. Show all posts
I used to be pro-life.
[TW for anti-choice narrative and discussion of sexual violence.]
I used to be pro-life. I grew up that way, feeling horror at the mere concept of abortion and only grudgingly allowing that exceptions should be made for people who have been assaulted (I considered the health exception to be the mother selfishly putting her life over that of her child's).
Then, I began to actually process the assault that I endured so many years ago, and part of that processing was reading ALL THE THINGS on the topic of rape. I learned statistics, such as the fact that 60% of assaults go unreported; that when an assault is reported, chances are high that the victim won't be taken seriously/mocked/blamed for the assault; that if the victim is taken seriously by law enforcement, the court process is grueling and frequently is dismissed, or the victim can't testify for any number of reasons, or the jury won't take the victim testimony seriously/mocks/blames the victim for the assault. It is estimated that about 1 in 16 rapes result in the incarceration of the rapist.
One in sixteen. Abhorrent.
Then, there are time constraints. The ludicrous handling of assault cases within the justice system, in tandem with the (continually more prohibitive) legal restrictions on abortion (e.g., cutoff at 20 weeks), means there is rarely - if ever - a conviction to show in time to abort the pregnancy.
On top of that, many victims don't realize that what has just happened to them was rape. Sometimes, years pass before a victim realizes what, exactly, happened. Sometimes, the victim never realizes it at all.
I used to be pro-life. I grew up that way, feeling horror at the mere concept of abortion and only grudgingly allowing that exceptions should be made for people who have been assaulted (I considered the health exception to be the mother selfishly putting her life over that of her child's).
Then, I began to actually process the assault that I endured so many years ago, and part of that processing was reading ALL THE THINGS on the topic of rape. I learned statistics, such as the fact that 60% of assaults go unreported; that when an assault is reported, chances are high that the victim won't be taken seriously/mocked/blamed for the assault; that if the victim is taken seriously by law enforcement, the court process is grueling and frequently is dismissed, or the victim can't testify for any number of reasons, or the jury won't take the victim testimony seriously/mocks/blames the victim for the assault. It is estimated that about 1 in 16 rapes result in the incarceration of the rapist.
One in sixteen. Abhorrent.
Then, there are time constraints. The ludicrous handling of assault cases within the justice system, in tandem with the (continually more prohibitive) legal restrictions on abortion (e.g., cutoff at 20 weeks), means there is rarely - if ever - a conviction to show in time to abort the pregnancy.
On top of that, many victims don't realize that what has just happened to them was rape. Sometimes, years pass before a victim realizes what, exactly, happened. Sometimes, the victim never realizes it at all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)