Re: Complaining against spam OT

Steven Schimmrich (schimmrich@earthlink.net)
Sun, 26 Jul 1998 22:21:15 -0400

At 02:21 PM 7/26/98 EDT, Mike S. wrote:
>
> This is headed off the spam topic, but the previous message set up well for
> the following question. What is everyone's view on abortion after rape? I find
> this to be a pressing moral and very emotional issue. Say for instense you, a
> sibling, or significant other in your family was raped. Would you be willing
> to raise the baby as your own flesh and blood or would you have it aborted. I
> know adoption is a strong option in these cases, but that brings up another
> side of the problem. Mothers who put babies up for adoption usually end up
> thinking about that child everyday of there life after it has been born. This
> leaves extreme emotional and psychological damage to the mother (not to
> mention the 'damage' already present from the rape). People in these
> situations usually end up paying an arm and a leg for psychiatrists and
> medications for decades. So, simply put, what is your (referring to all
> mailing list participants) views on this subject?

Many time when discussing the abortion issue with people they raise the
issue of "What about incest or rape?"

Each year, there are between 1,000,000 and 1,500,000 abortions in the U.S.
alone. Those are estimated numbers since, believe it or not, accurate statistics
are not kept on this medical procedure for political reasons (some statistics
may be seen at http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/aboramt.html).

How many of those abortions are for rape or incest? Again, impossible to say
with certainty, but typical numbers (http://www.pe.net/~matrix/options/abrtindx.htm)
are as follows:

Percentage of abortions performed due to life or health threat to the mother: 1%
Percentage of abortions performed due to rape or incest: 2%
Percentage of abortions performed due to health of the baby: 4%
Percentage of abortions performed for social reasons: 93%

So, realize that we're talking about a very, very small percentage of abortions.
Even if we allow them for these extenuating reasons, most pro-life advocates would
probably not get very upset about it.

I personally would support a routine morning-after pill for raped women. That
would solve the problem for cases of rape.

- Steve.

--
   Steven H. Schimmrich
   Physical Sciences Department      schimmri@kutztown.edu (office)
   Kutztown University               schimmrich@earthlink.net (home)
   217 Grim Science Building         610-683-4437, 610-683-1352 (fax)
   Kutztown, Pennsylvania 19530      http://home.earthlink.net/~schimmrich/