Problem with the Catholic Church's teaching on abortion in cases of rape

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JoyfulTune said:
The question is whether it is good to force her to carry to term by law the unwanted pregnancy.
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There is no process to force a person. There is only the imposition of punishment when a crime is committed. Abortion is a crime or it is not (depends on jurisdiction).

Of course, it is best if people act out of commitment to do what is good rather than fear of punishment. Nevertheless, we need laws and consequences for breaching them.
 
JoyfulTune said:
The question is whether it is good to force her to carry to term by law the unwanted pregnancy.
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We are as a society are lightyears away from forcing a woman to carry a child to term. It seems to me that when we legalized abortion we opened a Pandora’s box that I doubt will ever be closed again. All that remains is to try to discourage the choice of abortion on a personal level. And that means we engage the culture with our pro-life perspective when the topic comes up. Like I’m doing now.

I didn’t address the concept of “forcing“ a woman to carry to term because it seems so ridiculously unlikely in the current climate, and because I don’t see that ever happening in law. Those days seem gone forever. Along with many unborn babies.

When it comes to abortion and women being forced to a conclusion, I think many more women have been forced to have an abortion, than were forced to carry a baby to term, since it was legalized. Maybe we should be discussing that instead.

Suppose an adult stands at the side of the road, there’s a toddler in the middle of the road, and a car rushing down the road, looking certain that the child will be hit. Few or none of us would hesitate. We’d run into the road and do what we could save that child, even knowing full well that we were going to be hit by the car instead of the child.

We’re better than abortion. We’re betraying our best selves. There has got to be a better way than what we’re doing now.
 
JoyfulTune said:
The question is whether it is good to force her to carry to term by law the unwanted pregnancy.

What if what God want to do is to build a world where man cannot use woman for mere sex and breeding tool?
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I think God wants to build a world where a mother is overjoyed to carry her child to full term; a world where marriage, family, motherhood, and fatherhood are treasured and celebrated; a world where children are considered a blessing and not a burden.
 
Anesti33 said:
I think God wants to build a world where a mother is overjoyed to carry her child to full term; a world where marriage, family, motherhood, and fatherhood are treasured and celebrated; a world where children are considered a blessing and not a burden.
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I find it hard to expect women would be overjoyed to be pregnant by rape.
 
StudentMI said:
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Anesti33:
I think God wants to build a world where a mother is overjoyed to carry her child to full term; a world where marriage, family, motherhood, and fatherhood are treasured and celebrated; a world where children are considered a blessing and not a burden.
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I find it hard to expect women would be overjoyed to be pregnant by rape.
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I find it distasteful that someone should consider it “force” to undergo a natural process of biology.
 
Anesti33 said:
I find it distasteful that someone should consider it “force” to undergo a natural process of biology.
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Okay. I’m very confused by this comment. Are you referring to the act of rape as a natural process of biology, or the pregnancy?
 
StudentMI said:
Are you referring to the act of rape as a natural process of biology, or the pregnancy?
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I think only the criminally insane would think of rape as a natural process of biology. I didn’t make the comment, but I think they almost certainly meant pregnancy.

We have also got to allow for the possibility that some of the posters do not speak English as their native language, and so we should probably give grace.
 
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JoyfulTune said:
After I reach the age of reason, I would deep in my heart, prefer that she carried me by her own choice, and not merely because the law force her to do so.
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Of course you would. Who doesn’t want to be wanted? However, does someone have the right to take your life if s/he doesn’t want you?
 
Polak said:
If a woman becomes pregnant from an act of rape, it feels as though it’s completely against God’s plan of how children are to be brought into this world.
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But it was still God’s plan for that child to exists.
 
For sure this is not a choice made by the woman to be raped and could haven’t possibly been a choice of the rapist to have a child, not even by an innocent child to be born out of the world but it is of God’s. God is the giver of life and all lives are at His Hands. If abortion seems to be a solution, it contradicts God’s plan for that child to have a life and for him/her to feel beloved. And it also contradicts the dignity of human lives.
 
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JoyfulTune said:
After I reach the age of reason, I would deep in my heart, prefer that she carried me by her own choice, and not merely because the law force her to do so.
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This is not the moving argument some people try to make it out to be.
 
What crime is the baby being executed for?

And this from Catholics who oppose the death penalty…
 
Rau said:
Nevertheless, we need laws and consequences for breaching them.
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Okay. I agree. However, read one more time:

Hosea 4:14
14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,
nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery;
for the men themselves go aside with whores,
and sacrifice with temple prostitutes;
thus a people without understanding comes to ruin.

The above, God is teaching us the principle of justice: You can’t punish the accomplice, while allowing the perpetrator continue the crime
 
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EugeneCharles said:
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Polak:
If a woman becomes pregnant from an act of rape, it feels as though it’s completely against God’s plan of how children are to be brought into this world.
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But it was still God’s plan for that child to exists.
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Both Polak & EugeneCharles have mentioned important points regarding this matter.

Whenever rape happens, the woman need to make a choice to love the child at least to carry it to term. However, not by force, because that is exactly the essence of rape: a gender dictatorship.

A related example:

We who are good catholic/ christians knows and believe truely that Jesus is the only way to God. However, my question: why can’t we force all men & women in the whole world to be baptized, so that they all be saved compulsorily?
 
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Polak said:
With rape we are essentially saying, a man committed a terrible act of violence against a woman and she must give birth to and raise the fruit of this act of violence and violation, even though doing so may continue to remind of her of the horrendous act itself and cause her serious psychological pain
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No. We’re saying that killing the second victim of rape (the child) can’t possibly be part of the healing of the first victim.
 
Maybe the rape victim decides to deliver the baby but then when the baby is 3 months old decides she doesn’t want him/her. Is it OK to kill the baby then? I think the argument isn’t as much about rape or incest as it is about whether you feel an 8 week old fetus is a human being with a God-given right to life.
 
MarkRome said:
human being with a God-given right to life.
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A person breaking into your house is a human being with a God-given right to life. But if you are traumatized by his unjust aggression are you allowed to take measures to defend yourself? Are there any situations when the foetus could be seen as an unjust aggressor against the victim of a violent rape?
 
Mercy & love cannot be forced by law.

Forcing by law a victim of rape, is creating unjust law. And whatever come out from such law is unjust society. Whenever you treat women unjustly, you are teaching their children the same thing. Is this my opinion? No. This is an observable fact.
 
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