In addressing the issue of abortion in the case of rape in my prolife books, I pose a series of questions to readers:

What if you found that your spouse or adopted child was fathered by a rapist? Would it change your view of their worth? Would you love them any less? If not, why should we view the innocent unborn child any differently?

Rape is so horrible that we easily transfer our horror to the wrong object. We must not impose the ugliness of rape or incest upon either the innocent woman or the innocent child. The woman is not “spoiled goods”—she is not goods at all, but a precious human being with value and dignity that not even the vilest act can take from her. Likewise, the child is not a cancer to be removed, but a living human being. By all means, let’s punish the rapist. (I favor stricter punishment of the rapist than do the prochoice advocates I know.) But let’s not punish the wrong person by inflicting upon the innocent child our rage against the rapist.

The hard cases are also sometimes called the exceptional cases. But the fundamental question remains, “Is there any exception to the fact that a preborn child is a human being?” 

The point is not how a child was conceived but that he was conceived. He is not a despicable “product of rape.” He is a unique and wonderful creation of God. No adverse circumstance for one human being changes the nature and worth of another human being.

This is a wonderful video about a man, Steventhen Holland, who was adopted at birth, and later discovered the tragic yet beautiful circumstances surrounding his conception and birth:

Photo: Unsplash