The effects of rape can include both the initial physical trauma as well as deep

psychological trauma. If I were in Teresa's situation, I would experience feelings of severe

anxiety and stress, depression, flashbacks of the memories of rape as if it is taking place again,
borderline personality disorder, sleep disorders, eating disorders, dissociative identity disorder,
guilt, distrust of others, anger, and feelings of personal powerlessness. My whole world looks
pointless or it feels like it is the end of the world. My image is stained, my dignity, my goals are
hindered, and so on and so fort. The society will judge me, especially that there was a conceived
child in me. The most challenging part is deciding what to do with the baby.

Some women hates the baby, because it reminds them of the traumatic event, which leads
to abortion. They say they won’t be able to love that child. Yes, some women will see the child
in a negative light, rather than seeing the child as the light in her darkness. However, that's a
feeling during a time of fresh trauma and unbearable emotional pain. The thing about feelings,
they’re temporary. Another, others think that the child may be like his father. The thing is, it
depends on how the mother would raise the child. As Proverbs 22:6 states “Train up a child in
the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” In the situation of Teresa,
she experienced societal pressure to abort the child conceived from rape. She might have also
agreed because she wants to preserve her image and the baby was a hindrance to her success.
Considering that she is already a graduating college student, she could've kept the baby and still
graduate. While she is pregnant, she could review for her board exams and can finally take it
after she gives birth to the child. Well, that would be my plan if I were her. There's nothing
wrong to take a pause in reaching your goals.

I am deliberate in keeping the child because as reformed abortionist Bernard Nathanson

has so eloquently stated “Rape is a heinous, ineradicably humiliating act of violence imposed
upon a defenseless woman. The key word is ‘ineradicable,’ for the destruction of the innocent
human being created as a result of that act can never eradicate the unspeakable emotional and
psychological residue of that rape. To the contrary, it can only compound the residue with
another deadly act of violence.” This outlines the situation of rape and considers the further
violation of liberty against the woman, but argues that the obligation to the child still exists
whilst within her body, looks at the child as a social victim as well as the mother. Abortions due
to rape wreak more violence, cause no genuine healing, and lead others to believe that the
problems caused by a rape has largely been solved. The solution to rape is not abortion, but
prosecution of the rapist so he does not commit more crimes, and loving care for his victims so
that they experience true physical and emotional healing. From an ethical and logical standpoint,
a baby conceived through violence is as blameless and innocent as one conceived in marriage,
and is therefore deserving of the same protection. Either all preborn babies are worth saving, or
none of them are.

Ronald Reagan stated "Now, I know there are many who sincerely believe that limiting
the right of abortion violates the freedom of choice of the individual. But if the unborn child is a
living entity, then there are two individuals, each with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of

Josselle Kilitoy
happiness." Some may answer that the woman has a right to be free from assault. This is true, of
course, but in the case of abortion for rape, the assault has already happened. Just as the woman
has a right to be free from assault, so does her preborn baby. The unborn baby has the right as
well. The unborn baby has the right to live.

Studies show that abortion increases the risk of mental health disorders, a risk that would
be compounded by the trauma of rape. A survey of hundreds of rape survivors by U.S.-based
Fortress International discovered that women who aborted their babies conceived in rape
reported more pain, guilt, and anger than women who did not abort. Women in Dr Mahkorn’s
study who were made pregnant by rape who did not abort said that hostile and negative feelings
towards the baby changed during pregnancy. They also felt that the baby was an innocent party
to the rapist’s crime just as they were. These women, like the parents of disabled children, are
choosing the child over the challenging identity attached to that child. The woman’s problem is
not that she’s pregnant. The main problem heaped upon the mother after the trauma of rape is
how others think of her and treat her. but treating this problem of societal perspective with
abortion is like saying that the woman is a hopeless case. As long as we breath, we have hope. I
would rather choose the criticism of this world and do my responsibility as a mother to the child
made from my own flesh.

If I were Teresa, I wouldn't do the same. I would continue with the pregnancy. Those
findings bring us to a very important consideration: the rapist is a criminal, the baby is not. The
baby is also an innocent party and we need to provide compassionate support and care to help
both survive the trauma that has been created by the rape. Abortion can’t reverse a rape, and rape
survivors need counselling and support to address that violation. A child conceived in violence is
himself innocent and created in the image of God. He has done nothing to deserve the death
sentence, any more than a child conceived in a loving marriage. God gives people life, so only
God has the right to take it away.

References:

https://thelifeinstitute.net/learning-centre/help-centre/what-about-pregnancy-after-rape

https://www.healthyplace.com/abuse/rape/effects-of-rape-psychological-and-physical-effects-of-
rape

https://www.focusonthefamily.com/pro-life/is-abortion-okay-after-rape/

https://www.hli.org/resources/shouldnt-allow-abortions-help-victims-rape/

Josselle Kilitoy