Abortion helps rapists, hurts women
Dear Editor,
I read the tragic account of serial rape and serial abortion in the article titled ‘Scarred by sexual acts’ published on January 29 in the Jamaica Observer. It described a young lady who was raped by a doctor who then aborted her six-month-old baby, a cycle which saw more rape and two more abortions.
The nameless young lady openly shared that, almost a decade later, she is not only traumatised by the sexual assault but also the abortions. Her story showed some classic features of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder attributable to both adverse life events. It is trendy to minimise the psychological and physical trauma of abortion, but the statistics clearly show women who have abortions are six to seven times more likely to die by suicide than women who deliver. Teens who abort are three times more likely to be admitted for mental health reasons than teens in general.
Contrary to popular opinion, abortion does not help women who have been raped; it doubles their harm. She said, “I would rather have that child than to know that it was aborted because of what that abortion did to me,” pointing to mental health and physical health sequelae.
Clearly, this doctor is an experienced predator. One must reflect on the reason the rapist doctor in this account thought it necessary to carry out two abortions on this young lady and have a third one done. It seems that his goal was uninterrupted, multiyear serial predation. In his mind, the birth of his child would have been problematic because of one important 1988 invention, the paternity test. Abortion destroys human life, and much to the benefit and desire of the rapist, also destroys the incontrovertible evidence of their heinous crime. Abortion hurts rape victims and helps rapists; it is not a solution.
The stability and protection offered to children as a result of a child living with married biological parents cannot be overstated. The presence of the father is supremely protective, even if he doesn’t do much. Prevention is always better than cure.
Curatively, though, we need a dramatic improvement in our social and psychological support systems and our reporting mechanisms. The Love March Movement is in the process of working with partners to establish a pro-life network to help victimsed women like this young lady in crisis pregnancies. It is too easy to kill unborn babies in Jamaica, it is too easy for rapists to get away scot-free.
Rapists thrive off the abortions being done in doctors’ offices. Thirty to 60 abortions are being done in Jamaica per day. How many of these are benefiting rapists and perpetuating cycles of murder and abuse?