RateItAll: The Opinion Network

Who wants to carry around a child of a criminal for 9 months? In my book, a woman/girl should have the right to an abortion because they didn't want to get raped OR pregnant in the first place! It is emotionally and physically scarring for a woman to be raped, so who needs to deal with the extra baggage of a little on they way while they're possibly going to therapy? To want to deny that chosen right in the first place is criminal enough! It's too much stress on their emotions as well as their body! The criminal who chose to rape the victim should have absolutely no right to a child with them, whether they've had a previous relationship or whether they haven't. Those people are only thinking about themselves, as they are pleasure seekers! Human kind doesn't need a mother to tell her son or daughter where her "father" is or under what conditions they were conceived, therefore a woman should have the right to choose life, death, or adoption for the unborn child! It would also open up the wound further, and it would just be revisted again, and again, and again. For those women who courageously chose to carry the child for the full-term, whether there was a prior significant relationship or not, they are the bravest souls of all. It's a very hard thing to forgive the one who committed the act, and more, it's harder to love a child conceived from a rape because they are connected with that life-changing event. Some are brave enough to bring the child up, while others may need abortion because they might not be able to see themselves giving that child the life they deserve.

I've noticed a very disturbing trend on this board. Every time someone says that the child should be given up for adoption, they are slapped with a number of unhelpfuls. Well, I'm going to concur with GoneAway and Wg Cr Frame- adoption's the answer. I will add this however, if the circumstances are more of an incest rape (especially is the victim is a minor), than perhaps abortion may be best. UPDATE: It appears that one again the advocates for tolerance on the left have chosen to categorize Pro-Lifers as being somehow related to Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and the Taliban. By that "logic" liberals are in league with the Ku Klux Klan and The Westboro Baptist Church, both who loathe and hate George W. Bush.

Hitler was a formost practicioner of abortion by murdering their Jewish mother first, then burning both in the crematoria. Hitler also wrote a slew of laws for his Third Reich setting up abortion for those not geneticly fit, and the Lebensborn program for those who were. Selective breeding was Hitler's stock in trade, along with the murder of millions unfit in his eyes. As for Stalin, I cannot say...not enough info for me to draw judgement. As for the actual subject, rape is a questionable reason for aborting an unwanted child, but perfectly understandable. I imagine I would feel dirty and violated if I was a woman who was made pregnant by her rapist, instead of a 30 year old guy. Without the ability to properly walk a mile in the other person's shoes, this issue is hard for me to make a clear judgement about. I think that abortion is murder from a moral standpoint, but I can understand certain circumstances like this one. As for the government's right to outlaw it, I think that while they can set medical standards for any procedure, to ban it outright is not appropriate. It is difficult to legislate morality, as was evidenced by the failed attempt at Prohibition.

Stalin and Hitler were also opposed to abortion. Great company some "right to lifers" find themselves in. I agree that these are all irrelevent issues. The issue is simply whether the state has jurisdiction to enslave a human body for the benefit of another. It doesn't.

Irrelevant issue. . .dodges the inability to let women make decisions for themselves. . .hey kids, the Taliban was against abortion as well!

a friend of mine knows a person who is adopted. She is a great person. You know,great with family and friends, goes to church on sundays. she was conceived through rape. The mother kept the baby because it wasn't the fault of the babby, so why kill it? She gave her life, she didn't take it away. Everyone deserves a chance to live.

to carry around a fetus that is a result of rape for nine months even if you're giving it up for adoption is not something that should be forced upon women. These women were not being irresponsible, they were raped which will cause them a lot of pain for a very long time. They should not be forced to carry around a reminder. I believe that no raters would be saying no to abortion from rape if they werent male or completely detached from this type of situation. I have encountered this type of situation and cannot imagine the baby being kept.

They should abort the life of the rapist!

this is more lifetime television reason, as Lance says it doesn't happen too frequently. but i agree. no one needs to put up with carrying around some rapists offspring for 9 months. they don't need a constant reminder. the type of person who would disagree with this is either A) a religious lunatic b)a man c) a woman who has never known someone who's been raped, or had been raped.

I'm not only thinking of the mother's psychological well-being in this instance, but the child's as well. Would you like to find out later in life that you were not the product of a loving relationship but of the crime of rape? This can scar a child forever, not to mention the mother having to deal with the trauma of having an unplanned and unwanted child. However, I mostly agree in this as it pertains to incestual rape. No young girl should have to give birth to her older relative's child.

Who wants to have a baby inside them from a criminal that brutally raped them? Who wants to go through the long months of being pregnant with a child, while still trying to recover from being raped? What about those who are younger? If a twelve year old was raped, became pregnant and was denied an abortion, that would be terrible. A child shouldn't be forced to go through a pregnancy because of law, or even worse, someones's goddamned RELIGON.

Lets make this clear- abortions for cases of rape make up less than .0001% of abortions. If this was the only issue on the table regarding abortion I think an overwhelming number in the pro-life movement would be satisfied conceding to their permission. The anomolous case where a 12 year girl is raped by her father is probably the toughest moral question I face as a pro-lifer. The argument could be made that the action of birthing a child conceived during rape is a protracted assault. Though I find an aspect to that compelling, I believe the direct killing of innocent life is the over riding factor that structures the devolopment of our free society and therefore under no circumstances should we usurp the authority of the Creator in a quest for vigilante justice however virtuous the act may seem.

Rape is definetly a reason for and will always be!

give birth to the baby and then give it away, i would never be able to keep a baby that my wife bore to a rapist

Every woman should have the right to abort a baby conceived by rape. It is absolutely unethical to obligate a woman to give birth to a baby that wasn't intentionally conceived. After being rape, the woman must be traumatized and suffering a great deal, and pregnancy just adds further burdens both emotionally and physically to give birth and raise the child as a single parent. And without the proper planning of having a baby, the woman might not be financially prepared or emotionally stable and mature enough to raise a child. And it's unethical to deny a woman the right to abort for the baby's sake. It is better to terminate the pregnancy than to have the baby grow up when it is uncared for, unloved and deprived of attention and basic necessities, and to have it grow up with emotional issues unhappily. But it is a right that should be exercised with caution and careful consideration.

A woman should not be pressured to birth and raise the child of the criminal who raped her. She would have much trauma to recover from already, and making her responsible for the felon's baby inside of her would only compound the crime against her. Some criminals are evil enough that attempted rape would become more of an incentive, if they knew the laws would force that woman to birth his baby. Though it may be controversial at other times, clearly a mother's rights have to be seen as more important than that of the fetus, where rape is concerned.