Does rape justify having an abortion? In other words, if you are rapped, does that give you the right to have an abortion? This question is not easy to answer, and it is a sensitive question and topic to get into. Rape is punishable by death in scripture. It's also clear that the victim should not be punished, and the intruder who violated you should be punished. But what about the child or the baby that you now carry because of that individual who violated you?
First, I do want to mention that what the victim feels when they find out they are carrying can be mixed emotions. Anger, fear, anxiety, and depression. Some families that I have learned about have kicked their daughters out of the house because of this, and sadly, many girls have been kicked out because the family was very religious and would condemn the girl, therefore shunning her completely. And that is wrong! And I condemn that completely. We also need to know that rape can come from anyone and can happen anywhere. The Bible explains rape in different places and times. These details in scripture are highly important to actually know and study before you make an argument about this topic. To begin with, in closed areas away from population and places of population. But even if that family allows the daughter to keep living with them, or if you are an adult, you still come to the question of whether you should still have the baby or abort it. And that's what we will be talking about today.
We will not be getting into the numbers of women who are rapped (until later) and if they chose to or didn't get an abortion. I will be focusing on the question of 'Does Rape Justify Abortion?'
Since the moment of fertilization, scripture says Males and Females are made in God’s image Genesis 1:26-27 "Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created mankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." (Exodus 20:13; Proverbs 6:16-19; Jeremiah 22:3). It does not distinguish between humans at an early stage of development and those at a later stage, nor does it distinguish between those conceived consensually and those conceived otherwise. All humans deserve PROTECTION. Proverbs 24:11-12 reads "Rescue those being led away to death, and restrain those stumbling toward the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know about this,” does not He who weighs hearts consider it? Does not the One who guards your life know? Will He not repay a man according to his deeds?"
Now for the science. We know by science that life begins at conception and fertilization. This was known way back in the 1900s by many scientists:
"Development of the embryo begins at Stage 1 when a sperm fertilizes an oocyte and together they form a zygote."
[England, Marjorie A. Life Before Birth. 2nd ed. England: Mosby-Wolfe, 1996, p.31]
"I would say that among most scientists, the word 'embryo' includes the time from after fertilization..."
[Dr. John Eppig, Senior Staff Scientist, Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, Maine) and Member of the NIH Human Embryo Research Panel -- Panel Transcript, February 2, 1994, p. 31
"Embryo: The early developing fertilized egg that is growing into another individual of the species. In man, the term 'embryo' is usually restricted to the period of development from fertilization until the end of the eighth week of pregnancy."
[Walters, William, and Singer, Peter (eds.). Test-Tube Babies. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1982, p. 160]
Let's discuss when it is right to have an abortion through rape. And yes there is a right to have an abortion in certain situations. That being life-threatening. But let's get this straight though, The unborn entity is not an aggressor when its presence does not endanger its mother's life. Can we all agree on that? There are many ways to deliver a baby that can't be born through normal delivery like having a: Forceps delivery, vacuum extraction, and Cesarean section (C-Section). These options are available when pregnancy becomes more complicated in ways that aren't normal.
In the end, we see that even though the science says life begins at conception and fertilization and that there are ways to have that child even though there are complications, many Women will still come up with ways to justify abortion through rape. Examples like education, Bills, I already have a child, Work, etc. And the answer to this is simply adoption. I will leave a link to websites to help find places to put your child up for adoption.
But at the end of all this, it still comes down to the individual to choose between life and death. Will you give that child who didn't do anything wrong a chance or will you end the life that's just started?
Maria, London
It was 1996 and I lived in South America. I was 16 years old when I found I was pregnant. My father had died the year before and my family of six siblings and my mother were struggling with poverty. Some days we used to have dinner at 10 pm after my mum brought home money she had earned cleaning people's houses. My older sisters promised to support me if I chose to have an abortion and so did my mum. The ultimate decision was mine. My boyfriend's father came to see my mum the following day with the money to pay for a backstreet abortion. It almost seemed the logical thing to do. And then my mum out of nowhere refused the money and decided to do not to allow me to have the abortion. And the truth is: I was relieved. I needed someone willing to believe that I could keep my child. I needed an excuse to do it. I did not feel until my mother stood up for my pregnancy that I had the right to say "I want to have this baby." Last December he became a 20-year-old smart and caring boy. My life as a teen mother was hard. But it was hard even before he came into my life.
Sophie, Birmingham
I was booked to have a abortion in 2015, after being put under pressure, and already having a very young child. I cancelled my abortion the day before it was due, and honestly wouldn't change a thing now. My baby, who was due to be aborted, is happy and healthy. I suffered serious mental health problems back then and having this abortion would have made it much much worse. My miracle baby is now one, and due to be a big brother himself very soon.
Anonymous, New Zealand
"I found out I was pregnant at five weeks. I’ve always loved babies, and I love my boyfriend—although we’ve only been together for less than a year. But I let my fear get the best of me. I convinced myself I wasn’t ready, although deep down I knew I would be okay. My boyfriend and I agreed to end the pregnancy. I had my abortion at 11 weeks, 2 days, on the 7th of February, 2017. I waited over a month after finding out because I struggled. But I did it, and it is the worst decision I’ve ever made, I wish I walked out of the hospital that morning. I took my baby home with me to bury and that just deepened my pain—but I don’t regret that. I cry and I get angry a lot. It’s a huge thing to hold on your shoulders. I’m constantly looking up pictures of what my baby would have looked like right now if I had kept him or her. Nothing has ever hurt me this bad; I feel so stupid. I wish I could turn back the clock.[...] Don’t let the pressure get to you. Ugh. It just sucks so bad, thinking about my little baby all the time.”
Anonymous, New York
“I just turned 17 when I found out I was pregnant. I was hiding it from my boyfriend and everyone for four weeks. During my 5th week, I found out he was cheating on me and got the girl pregnant. I saw how he was, so excited, and he hid it from me. I mentally broke down. I got into a deep depression ended up getting an abortion out of anger from a very unprofessional place. The pain was excruciating. I couldn’t live with not knowing if my baby would be loved by not only me but its father. I regret it because we are now back together. I lie awake every night wondering if my baby would’ve changed me, if I hadn’t been so selfish. This decision has left me mentally scarred and very emotional. I never thought I’d be so disgusted with myself. Think before you have an abortion and realize your baby will love and support you all your life.”
So let's continue on the topic of Rape making up less than 1% of abortions. So let us talk about the other 99%, then. In 2019 people at the age of 15 made up .2% of abortions in America, 15-19 is about 8.5%. The rest are adult-age. When you have an abortion, you are destroying the Cells or body of a being. Even those cells have everything you need to know regarding eye color, skin, hair, etc. Abortions STOP and END the life being created. Now you may say it depends on the mother so it's the mother's choice. I disagree. A man who's brain-dead depends on the family or hospital to keep him alive. Should the family have the means of stabbing him or ending his life? As children, we grow and depend on our parents and mother to survive. So the argument is this, then... Does location determine if someone has the right to live or die? I believe they should live. Not only because the God of the universe says so but because every human deserves to live, whether poor or in a desert. It's up to us and the community to help those who struggle, not kill them.
Let's talk science right now. What's a fetus? According to Dictionary, it is "an unborn offspring of a mammal, particularly an unborn human baby more than eight weeks after conception." And another definition is "the developing young in the uterus, specifically the unborn offspring in the postembryonic period, which in humans is from the third month after fertilization until birth." The word fetus is Latin and means "growth, production."
Realize that both definitions say, human. So both recognize that a fetus is a human growing inside the mother. But people will still say it's not life. I want to take a moment to point out the blatant hypocrisy of people that lean on the side of Pro-Choice. One example is this. What is considered Life? According to Life Science the study of the biology of how these organisms live. This includes plants, bacteria, and viruses. These three things are considered life to scientists and even biologists. Microbiology is the study of all living beings, single-celled organisms, and small cell structures, and they will tell you that these residing cells are alive and moving. They will also say they serve a purpose in the animal or plant that it's in. But even Microbiology isn't the end. You also have Cell Biology, smaller than Microbiology, and Physiology, which studies how certain beings stay alive with everything you have inside you. If you took the time to look at each field of study and the human body or the fetus itself, you would know that the cells that were a clump at the start contained all the information needed to create you now.
Many also claim that the baby inside is nothing more than a parasite sucking the life out of the mother. Is that true or made up? A parasite is a separate entity that latches onto a host for survival. A study out of Cambridge University uncovered the answer to this question. According to PNAS and Biological Science, "During pregnancy, nutrients are required for fetal growth and for the mother to maintain the pregnancy." This is not new. What many think is happening when a woman is pregnant is a form of war between the mother and fetus over who gets the nutrients. This is false. (CLICK HERE FOR FULL STUDY) But at the end of the study, they found that "… It appears that when the mother is healthy, the placenta readily transports nutrients to the fetus and dynamically adjusts, even if it forms abnormally…. if the mother’s health is compromised, the placenta restricts nutrient flow to the fetus to ensure the mother’s long-term health, with the prospects that the fetus can still, grow and develop." More discoveries have been made that the fetus has its DNA from the first day, its heartbeat, and later on, its organs, its brainwaves, and its response to pain inside the womb.
So according to science, biology, life science and microbiology abortion is terminating the beginning of a human at the moment of conception. So what does the bible tell us?