Women Who Became Pregnant Through Sexual Assault Say, “Ask Us”
Petition Signers Say Using Their Situation to Promote Abortion
Stops Women from Getting Authentic Help
Abortion and sexual assault pregnancy is a difficult issue for many people, especially since no one wants to hurt those who have already been traumatized. For many, abortion seems like a compassionate answer for women and girls who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest.
But a group of women who experienced pregnancies resulting from sexual assault say that policymakers need to listen to those who’ve been there, instead of using this issue to promote abortion.
Nearly 40 women have signed a petition asking congress and state legislators to hold hearings and give women a chance to tell their stories, discuss the impact of abortion and share their unique needs and concerns. They note that discussions by “legislators, judges and policy makers” on this issue “take place without ever first soliciting our input,” and that abortion promotion stops women from receiving help and support.
These views are expressed in their petition, which reads in part:
We are deeply offended and dismayed each time our difficult circumstances are exploited for public consumption to promote the political agenda of others. This is a grave injustice. In pursuing their political agendas, these exploiters have reduced our concerns, needs and circumstances to a crude caricature. …
Only we who have actually experienced a sexual assault pregnancy truly understand the trauma, fears, concerns and needs of our sisters who are, or will someday become, pregnant as a result of rape or incest.
Each year, thousands of women will face this experience. Unless society at large begins to listen to us today, these other women will, like us, face great difficulty in finding authentic understanding and help.
Abortion Not a Good Solution, Women Say
The petition signers include women who had abortions as well as women who continued their pregnancies and either raised their children or placed them for adoption.
Some of the signers shared their story in the Elliot Institute’s book Victims and Victors, which was based on the stories of nearly 200 women who became pregnant as a result of rape or incest.
Most of the women who shared their stories for the book said that abortion was not a helpful solution and that it only added to the trauma they had experienced.
And many said that their abortions were the result of pressure from those around them, or because they lacked support. In cases where incest or ongoing sexual abuse was involved, the decision to abort was often made by the perpetrator in order to cover up the abuse.
One woman, Edith, was impregnated by her stepfather at the age of 12. Her mother, who knew of the abuse, took her for an abortion that resulted in the delivery of a stillborn baby girl. Years later, Edith wrote:
Throughout the years I have been depressed, suicidal, furious, outraged, lonely, and have felt a sense of loss . . . The abortion which was to “be in my best interest” just has not been. As far as I can tell, it only “saved their reputations,” “solved their problems,” and allowed their lives to go merrily on. … Problems are not ended by abortion, but only made worse.
Another woman, Kathleen DeZeeuw, raised her son after experiencing a date rape as a teen, and wrote that she believed abortion advocates have exploited stories like hers:
I having lived through rape, and also having raised a child “conceived in rape,” feel personally assaulted and insulted every time I hear that abortion should be legal because of rape and incest. I feel that we’re being used to further the abortion issue, even though we’ve not been asked to tell our side of the story.
A copy of the petition can be downloaded here. Women who have experienced a pregnancy resulting from rape or incest and who wish to sign the petition can do so here. Those who wish their names to be kept private (not for publication) may choose this option on the form.
About the Research
Victims and Victors was based on a survey — one of only a few such studies ever done — of 192 women who became pregnant as a result of rape or incest.
Of the respondents, 164 were victims of rape and 28 were victims of incest (sexual assault involving a family member). Overall, 69 percent continued the pregnancy and either raised the child or made an adoption plan, 29 percent had abortions and 1.5 percent had miscarriages.
- Nearly 80 percent of the women who aborted the pregnancy reported that abortion had been the wrong solution.
- Most women who had abortions said that abortion only increased the trauma they were experiencing.
- In many cases, the victim faced strong pressure or demands to abort. 43 percent of rape victims who aborted said they felt pressured or were strongly directed by family members or health workers to abort.
- In almost every case where an incest victim had an abortion, it was the girl’s parents or the perpetrator who made the decision and arrangements for the abortion, not the girl herself. In several cases, the abortion was carried out against her expressed wishes, and in a few cases, without her knowledge that she was pregnant or that an abortion was taking place.
- More than 80 percent of the women who carried their pregnancies to term said that they were happy that they had continued the pregnancy.
- None of the women who gave birth to a child conceived in sexual assault expressed regret or wished they had aborted instead.
Learn More:
Read and Support the Petition
Special Report on Sexual Assault Pregnancy and Abortion
Victims and Victors Book
Resources to Download and Share:
“Hard Cases” Fact Sheet
Petition to Congress and State Legislators
9 thoughts on “Women Who Became Pregnant Through Sexual Assault Say, “Ask Us””
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I’ve never understood abortion as a means of birth control. To some degree maybe.
But I know a new experience can be scary especially with stigmas attatched. Especially when others are too ignorant to get the facts but make assumptions.
Which I can understand a woman realizing she’s been used only for sexual gratification then hating the guy and everything associated to him including his child.
Then girls and women who have no support but total judgement from all sides. Causing confusion and pain. Not knowing what to do and unsure.
Then those who were exploited but are pressured into abortion especially by those who would have to lose face because of their positions, where they’re vulnerable to being shamed for their actions or the actions of say their children. So they want to keep everything quiet.
Where girls and women have always been easy scapegoats that society & culture has been too stupid to realize.
I don’t claim to know anything, but we have some serious issues.
Then there are those who are tender hearted and know if they said they were raped as date raped, they could face further stigma and taunts by those who’re friends or allies of the offender. Then those who don’t want to bring criminal charges on their offenders or go through the misery of trying to prove something. Or the scum attorneys that will attack the innocent for a dollar.
Again I can see where a female would detest the male and anything associated with it.
Where females catch hell from all sides.
Policy makers only try to appease the masses aren’t interested in what and why, the highest level of Injustice there is I’d guess.
I say all this where I am asking. I’m kind of an empath. There is a God and said to know the hearts & feelings of a person. Where I’m not sure on some things, like others I desire revelation.
Thing is-You can’t argue with ignorance. So many love ignorance and have self righteous ideologies. Then the evil methodic way others test and try a person is hell too as they’re spineless trash that won’t lay the cards on the table but do things round about and then give their perceptions in gossip. Or listening to. Like a big fat guy that’s deluded hisself into thinking he’s a preacher when.he’s molded by cultural and societal ideologies over and above spiritual knowledge. I’m a fat guy that knows God is but fat from stress over too many years. Lol, a little humor.
Women used to have the policy of a promised ring or a marriage ring before they’d give away what’s personally intimate. Which men will be judged for what they’ve done. Then at that time, there was the shotgun weddings where there was intimate feelings. In cases of rape, a guy would be strung from a tree. John Andersons’ song, “Just A Swingin” would been appropriate.
It was a way of protecting females and their honor.
I say this in sympathy as I know male culture caused the corruption that allows females to be violated.
Not ignoring the females that get a guy all hot and heated up as females aren’t saints eitheir. Where some think of such as fun or a game, where there’s animal instinct.
I don’t know really what to say except we have a problem with exploitation of people. I listen.
Do you have the name of the mother and daughter who speak at pro-life events about the mom being raped and conceiving the child and placing her for adoption and finding one another later?
I think you mean Julie Makimaa and Lee Ezell. There is a YouTube video posted here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaR9KdLdwAU
Lee has a web site here: http://www.leeezell.com/aboutlee.htm.
I’m listening. I never realized that people (such as myself) who used the rape/incest argument for abortion were using the victims. That was never my intention, and it will not happen again. I’m very sorry. And I want you to know that I am now pro-life. God bless you all.
Paula:
Thank you for your authenticity and honesty, we need more people like you out there letting “them” know the facts. You wrote it so eloquently, also: “I never realized that people…who used rape/incest argument for abortion were using the victims.” That is a very profound, deeply moving statement.
I have been a counselor for over 10 years to women who have had abortions in their past, some as a result of rape, some as a result of sexual abuse that led to a life-style of being very sexually active and becoming pregnant. No matter how the woman became pregnant, abortion affected their lives in very traumatic ways, sometimes never recovering from the sexual assault of the abortion itself. Women who have abortions in their past need help. You can google http://www.surrenderingthesecret.com which is a nationwide organization that helps women deal with a past abortion.
I think that too often family members are concerned about the impact that the child would have on them rather than giving the victim the right to make her own decision. Convenience is a powerful motivating force. The police are not going to want to interfere because family members might report them to their supervisors. The safest play is to keep your mouth shut. We have to change the culture.
Thanks for such great work and for being a voice for abortion victims and survivors.