Would you want emergency contraception if you or yours were raped?

[BibleReader]

rheins2000:

Also, BibleReader, it says in the BIBLE, “before I formed you in the womb, I knew you”

It doesn’t say, “Before I formed you in the womb, as long as you were not a child of a rapist, I knew you; so go ahead and be thrown in the trash if you were”

Well, the question is, Whether the “you” is there, yet, or will never appear because we flush those little agents of rape out of the viciously-traumatized juvenile victim’s system.

 

[m134e5]

cainem:

lets be realistic the rapists child would tear your family apart, most men i know would be so destroyed with anger and hatred of the rapist not sinner after all he has done more than steal a cookie, to love the child, and then if the wife was to try and raise the child she may very well end up single because of it, perhaps as we have to love the sinner would the rapist get visitation rights invites to childs birthday party etc.

An abortion would tear the child apart- no doubt. emergency contraception or abortion would not make you forget the rape. People can and have found healing after being raped, getting pregnant, and having and raising that child. It may take a lot of counseling for the woman- and the man, and maybe even family counseling, because that is- no doubt- a very unfortunate thing. It is not a sin to put a child up for adoption, and in some cases, that may be best. The rape was not the child’s fault. If St. Maria Goretti forgave her murderer, then the least a woman in this case can do is carry an innocent child for 9 months, deliver it, and put it up for adoption. Don’t ask for child support, or put the child up for adoption, and the father isn’t entitled to visitation rights.

If most men you know would be too destroyed with anger and hatred toward the rapist, then they need counseling and prayers. Boys get angry and hate. Real men get angry, but they forgive. Jesus said “love your enemies”. He didn’t say “love your enemies if you’re ok with that”. He said “love your enemies”.

Michael Evans

 

[MeaCulpa]

What in the world is “emergency contraception”? Just another pc word for abortion? Abortion is a sin regardless of the circumstances - a mortal sin and so would this be contrary to church teaching.

 

[rheins2000]

BibleReader:

Well, the question is, Whether the “you” is there, yet, or will never appear because we flush those little agents of rape out of the viciously-traumatized juvenile victim’s system.

That’s what I was asking of someone to answer; if conception hasn’t occurred(and how would you know?) is it the morally permissable to do whatever “flushing” is…does anyone know?

 

[kappydell]

This always seemed to be the thing that the ‘pro-choicers’ used as their argument stopper for abortions…'if you were raped you would want an abortion!" and they are always stunned, when I say, no, I would NOT. For the following reasons: 1- Two wrongs don’t make a right. 2- The child did nothing wrong, and should not be killed as punishment for another’s evil actions. I do not know if I would have the strength to raise such a child…I hope I would…but I would have 9 months to decide. Besides…history is full of people who started out life in ‘bad’ circumstances and became not only good people, but saints. God works in mysterious ways to turn evil to good.

 

[BibleReader]

rheins2000:

Also, BibleReader, it says in the BIBLE, “before I formed you in the womb, I knew you”

It doesn’t say, “Before I formed you in the womb, as long as you were not a child of a rapist, I knew you; so go ahead and be thrown in the trash if you were”

Yes the Bible does say that, rheins2000. But there is no “you” for God to know in advance if God knows in advance if we’re going to catch the sick, schizophrenic, screaming, murderous wildly-raping rapist’s sperm before that make it up into the Fallopian Tubes and conceive.

In my opinion, it is objectively evil to force a little 12 year old girl to sit and wait to conceive a screaming, smelly, schizophrenic, knife-wielding, wildly-raping rapist’s baby if that conception is going to take place.

Bad balance. Flush out that poor little kid’s vagina and cervix and womb, while she receives loads and loads and loads of hugs from responsible, loving adults.

I’m not talking about doing so after the average minimum time for conception.

 

[Hmarie]

I’m going to go back to the original question. I think I would play it safe and say no, no emergency contraception. Honestly, the Church’s teachings confuses me, and I wouldn’t know what to do. To Take the pill or not? Ovulating or not? I would rather be safe and let whatever happen, happen, and no against Church teaching in my confusion… Besides, for me personally…I think I would always wonder “what if?” I don’t think I could do that and wonder forever, what might have been had I taken that pill…that’s my personal thought on it, and I’m so thankful I’ve never been in that position.

My prayers go out to any victim of rape, that must be such a hard and horrible thing to deal with.

 

[Mom_of_one]

I was raped. I was offered emergency contraception and I very adamantly refused. Did I end up pregnant? No. Would I have given up the child for adoption? Probably not, but not because adoption is a bad choice. I had two miscarriages before I was raped and had I ended up pregnant and been able to carry that baby to term, there’s NO WAY that I could have given up that child.

 

[Wildgraywolf]

That is a very difficult question to answer and full of emotion…

Rape is a violent intimate crime. I can easily see why the vicitm of a rape would not want to remain pregnant, but If the baby were aborted would the baby be yet another victim of a different crime?

If a child is concieved as a result of a rape is it right that the child should pay for the crime of his/her “father” by being aborted?

Should the mother carry to term a baby brought about by a violent crime?

The raped woman is an innocent victim, the baby concieved is also innocent. Who deserves justice; the woman raped or the child that was concieved? Is justice even possible?

 

[cominghome]

Obviously it won’t happen to me because I’m a man. I must admit that if I was a woman and I was raped I would receive EC whether the egg had been fertilized or not. I would walk out of the hospital feeling totally comfortable about my decision. If I was held captive for a week and raped everyday I would still do it. If I was held captive for 3 months and was 2 months pregnant when I escaped it would be much more difficult to decide but I might decide to aborrt. If something as terrible as rape should ever happen to my wife or any of my loved ones, I would encourage them to do likewise but I would respect their choice.

You may all go ahead and pass judgement. I have no delusions of being any holier than I am. I know what I would do.

To all of you who have been in the situation and had the strength to have the baby - my admiration.
To all of you who have been in the situation and decided to receive EC or an abortion - my support.
To all of you who have never been in the situation and feel the need to keep others from offending your moral conscience - my prayers.

 

[jess7396]

cominghome:

To all of you who have never been in the situation and feel the need to keep others from offending your moral conscience - my prayers.

Surely this is a very tough subject, but please let us state things as they are. This is NOT about “keeping others from offending our moral consciences” it is about making certain that no human beings are killed as a result of a rape.

These complicated situations are very hard to discuss, to be sure, but the TRUTH remains the same, a human being is formed at conception, a human being created by God who others have no right to destroy for ANY reason. The personhood of the unborn is not changed magically when you hear that heart beat, or any other arbitrary time in utero or out in the world.

If we realize that God forms a new human being at conception, and that He expects that we will “not kill” via the Commandments, then we are washed of “choice” in this regard.

The personhood of the unborn is not changed by the means which led to their conception.

 

[BlindSheep]

Feanaro's Wife:

Church teaching allows for it’s use if it is proven that ovulation has not occured.

But how can you be sure of this?
I would never take the chance, myself. I’d probably raise the baby, since it would be my child (not just the rapists). I have 3 children and couldn’t imagine giving up my own child, but I can’t know how I would feel in that situation, and if I really felt unable to be a good mother to the child I would choose adoption.

 

[chevalier]

First, I hate rape. As a Christian, as a prospective lawyer, as a man, I hate it. I hate it more than murder. Rapists should be castrated. By this I don’t mean “if possible to enact in a humanitarian way”. I mean castrated. Even if this means employing a blunt axe with a million germs on it. Unless the guy spends his whole life in prison without getting out for a second without immediate supervision.

Thoughts of rape - acts, victims, perpetrators, is what makes me ask God’s forgiveness over and over for each single look or touch that wasn’t welcome. What sort of man would do that? How can the scum ever call himself a man after doing that?

There are saints who repented of murder, even of genocidal proportions. Many have repented for prostitution (contraception and abortion are reasonable presumptions) and all sorts of consensual promiscuity. But I’m not aware of any saint to have repented of rape, so many as we have saints. This says something.

I would genuinely prefer a woman (regardless of her relation to me) to kill the rapist rather than submit to rape. And I really mean this. Well, preferably maim rather than kill, but not at the cost of any risk to herself. (Issue #1: What’s better: resist and kill him if need be or flee? In secular laws, no one is required to flee rather than fight, ever.) If I were to witness rape, I would kill the rapist rather than allow him to rape the woman, at least before the rape started. If the rape were already taking place, I would hesitate as to whether killing him to have him stop would be licit.

Abortion is out of question because the child is a human person and an innocent one at that. No risk of “accidental” abortion is acceptable for the same reason, if the effect is direct or intended. Issue #2: What if we have every reason to assume abortion won’t happen, but can’t infallibly exclude a next to nonexistent probability?

Normally, it would seem that non-abortifacient contraception were licit in case of non-consensual intercourse. Issue #3: What if the rapist were the husband? There is no proper uniting and no proper procreating… but do we still insist on emergency contraception being allowed here?

Issue #4: The US Bishops’ document doesn’t cover rapists who are husbands, at least not to my knowledge. So does it mean the woman has the right to get the rapist-husband’s sperm out of her?

Issue #5: If it’s all so morally proper to administer emergy contraception to a rape victim, we should have no qualms granting it to a woman raped by her own husband. And if we have a problem with allowing emergency contraception to a woman raped by her husband, is it really proper for other women?

Another problem is, “before I formed you in the womb, I knew you”. That’s pretty clear. God makes no exception for rape in this sentence. However, God was making a general statement here. From a general statement, we can’t infer lack of exceptions (I don’t even know if “exception” is the right word here). It’s reasonable to assume that God knew every single man before he was conceived - in this sense, He knew him millions of years before the conception just because the conception would have taken place in times yet to come. Can or cannot this mean that God is forming the child even in the instance of rape and even immediately from the moment of forced intercourse? We cannot attribute the rape to God. I believe that, while punishing a nation with death wouldn’t be murder for God, nor evil, God wouldn’t design a woman to be raped.

So, question arises: are we meddling with conception or are we fending off an assault?

Looking back, I am 39, married with four children, I realize that everyone that has commented is on a journey to understand this situation. In the end there is one common denominator. God. Life comes from God. Contraception, morning after pills, abortions are all ways to stop life from God. God doesn’t make mistakes. We do. We feel we can say no to God. Every single child that is sent here has a reason in this life.

I believe that God wouldn’t send rape on a woman in any direct sense. We can debate all those great biblical harlots with their multitude of diverse sexual crimes, but I still don’t believe God would actually use rape as a means if He wanted the woman to have a child.

 

[chevalier]

Contraception is a grave (or mortal) sin. It is never acceptable to do evil, no matter what the out come.

It’s evil for removing the natural consequences of unitive and procreative acts. Rape is not a unitive act: it’s having sex with someone; it’s using a person as a tool in masturbation. Conception would be a natural result, but the act isn’t natural, at any rate. It seems to me that contraception is evil for making fun without responsibility of a marital act rather than the prevention of conception per se. But I understand your doubts and have problems casting them off myself.

if you get the person to the hospital fast enough there is no fertilization and no or very, very small chance of becoming pregnant… but there’s more to it than that… early care might prevent certain STD’s, so to deter or not go to the emergency room of the nearest hospital would almost seem negligent…

We need to take STDs into consideration. We also need to take into consideration the state of teenagers’ bodies still in development - and rape victims are teenagers for the greatest part, I think.

I am no expert in psychology, but I know how it is to have an obsession with guilt. So, Issue #6: Is it possible for a woman to whom emergency contraception was administered to develop something close to post-abortion syndrome? Issue #7: If so, is it only possible in relation with the possibility of abortion having taken place, or is it also possible for the woman to develop something close to post-abortion syndrome for merely preventing the conception?

I wouldn’t criticise a woman for undergoing emergency contraception. But I’m not sure if I would suggest choosing it (I would inform of the possibility) or if I would be at peace carrying out the procedure if I were a medical doctor.

I would probably end up with my conscience not letting me press on the woman to give up her child for adoption or influence her in that direction. I would probably end up loving the child as my own, as well. However, I don’t like the idea of withholding the father’s identity from the child. Too much of a direct lie, I think. I’m not even sure that the rapist loses the right to have his child know of his parentage, so much as I hate the idea of pregnancy coming from rape and so much as I would wish death on the guy sooner than success in his attempt at rape.

Also, somehow, I can understand a woman who hates contraception so much that she wouldn’t want to have anything to do with it. I understand even that woman who would feel like a child killer for getting emergency contraception after rape. But I also understand the woman who wants to wash it off ASAP.

Perhaps someone would like to reflect on my seven issues marked in red?

Ah, one more thing. You may call me an ogre for this, but I believe that the husband needs to know about conception from rape. He has the right to demand parenthood tests. Any man under any circumstances needs to know if the child is biologically his or not - from a raped wife’s husband to a guy who is adopting a child he doesn’t know that is in fact already his.

 

[adnauseum]

I wonder if anyone’s answer would change if a condition were added:

Would you get the abortion if for some reason (legal, etc.) your doing so required that the *perpetrator* be put to death as well?

Some here would be forced to admit they'd grant greater human dignity to the *perpetrator* than to an *innocent child* who can't defend himself.

You can sanitize it all you wish, either way it's the death penalty. I for one am not allowed to inflict that on *anyone*.

 

[chevalier]

Just please explain to us how contraception is penalty and how it inflicts death. We aren’t talking about abortion. We are talking about contraception, which is preventing the connection of the sperm with the egg. You don’t have a foetus before the sperm and the egg connect, so you don’t have a human person. Therefore, you don’t have death. Removing a rapist’s sperm is no penalty, either.

 

[cove]

chevalier:

I believe that God wouldn’t send rape on a woman in any direct sense. We can debate all those great biblical harlots with their multitude of diverse sexual crimes, but I still don’t believe God would actually use rape as a means if He wanted the woman to have a child.

How do you explain all the people walking the earth who were concieved in this manner?

Did it ever occur to you that they are the good that came from an evil. That they were put here by God. Giving birth is not the same as rape.

Whenever I see these arguments about rape and abortion I can’t help but think of these people and how this makes them feel. That others actually think that they did not deserve to be concieved because the man who “fathered” them was a criminal. For some reason it is socially acceptable to believe that these individuals should have paid for someone elses crime.

I wanted to add to your argument in favor of emergency contraception. This type of contraception is no walk in the park. A woman may be put through some very difficult physical complications brought on by this form of “contraception” for no reason at all considering that a very small percentage of rape actually produces a pregnancy. Medical professionals should consider whether it is right to futher traumatize a woman after she has already been traumatized when it is not necessary.

I would rather go through 9 months of pregnancy, give birth to a beautiful child then bleed and be in pain for days only to produce emptiness and a greater profound sadness. Of course you will say that is your “choice”. But, from a religious point of view and going back to your feeling that God would not use a woman in this way if he wanted her to have a child, I have must ask you to put the emphasis on child and life and compare that to the rape. God does not use the rapist to bring forth life. He has created the woman to be the nurturer of his greatest creation and the bearer of life. In these circumstances, It is God’s way of triumphing over evil.

 

[CCF_Jeff]

I am a guy, so I know I don’t fully realize the thoughts and fears that must go through women’s minds in such situations and I also realize that talking about such an eventuality in theory is quite different than the reality, but I would ask for God’s grace to do what is right in His eyes.

If my wife (or daughtres when they get old enough) were raped I think I would be supportive of them “being cleaned out” or whatever the medical term is and probably of using spermicides, which as I understand it is morally licit, though I am still trying to come to a full understanding of the theology behind it (link).

I think I would strongly recommend they not use any “morning after” pill regardless of the USCCB fact sheet as I think there is a possibility of it causing an early term abortion despite the precautions taken in trying to determine whether or not ovulation has already taken place (link).

If a child were conceived, I would guess at this point that I would be in favor of putting him or her up for adoption, but that could obviously change when & if speculation turned into reality.

I could never come to terms with someone wanting to have a direct abortion, even in the hard cases of rape, incest, or a risk to the life of the mother, though I could sympathise with the pain and suffering that might go into such a decision.

Bottom line for me is that all emergency contraception is the same. Methods that would prevent conception in the first place are apparently licit in situations of rape. Methods that might turn out to be abortifactient are a different matter altogether.

 

[coralewisjr]

Pro-Life_Teen:

Good for you! It shows there is still some good left in us. I chose that I’d raise the child. I’m only fourteen, but I’d rather cut off my arm then get an abortion done, or use any contraception. If I was raped, I would trully keep the child, and raise them.

A child shouldn’t die for their father’s crime, and murder should not be added to that rape attack.

Pro-Life_Teen, you’ve got an excellent head on your shoulders for a 14-year-old. Keep up the good work!

 

[Cradle]

How can ovulation/conception be proven to not have occured? I’m lacking in biological understanding, but as far as I know there is no sure-fire way of knowing whether conception occured or not… I thought we were supposed to always err on the side of caution… I don’t like this… Is this official Church teaching or not? I don’t want to be at odds with it if it is, but I just don’t understand how “emergency contraception” could be condoned by the Church… I don’t want to be a cafeteria Catholic by failing to submit to this teaching! :crying::crying::crying: