Hypothesis vs. Reality

It has been my experience that supporters of legalized abortion tend to justify their position by citing the worst-case hypothetical situation that might happen if abortion were illegal.

Not long ago, I received an e-mail from a reader of an article I wrote for a secular newspaper who was profoundly unhappy with my pro-life stance. In his e-mail, the unhappy reader cited this hypothetical worst-case scenario:

"I have yet to hear what they (pro-lifers) would say to the 13-year-old victim of a brutal rape. How would they tell her that they are going to force her to carry that daily reminder to term? Would they, or you, strap her to a hospital bed to prevent any attempt at self-abortion or suicide? Would you pay the hospital bill?"

Wow! How do you respond to that? Well, oddly enough, the same day I got that e-mail, I received by regular mail a request for a donation from the Life Legal Defense Foundation. They needed donations to cover legal expenses emanating from a lawsuit filed against Planned Parenthood's southwest Ohio region by a young woman who was sexually molested by her father from the time she was 13 years old until she was 18 years old.

The suit alleges that when she was 16, her father brought her to Planned Parenthood's Auburn Avenue facility in Cincinnati for an abortion "in order to cover up the sexual abuse and resulting pregnancy." Planned Parenthood performed the abortion but failed to report the sexual abuse of the minor to the authorities, thus violating Ohio law and condemning the poor girl to another year and a half of abuse.

 This is not an isolated incident. In February of this year, a Kansas pro-life group reported that a Kansas City abortionist failed to report the rape of an 11-year-old girl that resulted in her pregnancy. The abortionist performed an abortion on the girl and then returned her to the source of the pregnancy, her stepfather, who sexually abused the girl and her sister for several years.

In December 2005, after drawing unwanted attention from pro-life groups, Planned Parenthood's San Francisco office removed a letter from its Web site that purported to be from a former client thanking the organization for not telling her parents that she had been raped when she was 11 by her 17-year-old "boyfriend." Of course, Planned Parenthood also failed to inform the authorities of the rape — which raises the question, "Why did they post the letter?"

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the largest abortion provider in this country, prides itself on protecting the confidentiality of its clients, even children, their molesters and their rapist "boyfriends." Planned Parenthood's San Francisco affiliate used the letter as an endorsement, a tribute to the organization's zipped lips.

The people at Planned Parenthood, and most other abortion providers, apparently believe they are above the law. They know that as health care workers they are obliged to report suspected child abuse to the authorities. That includes not just forcible rape, but also statutory rape, generally defined as sexual activity between an adult and a minor. Each state in this country has an age below which minors cannot consent to sexual activity. The definition of "minor" ranges from 14 or under to 18 or under, depending on the state.

Abortion providers know this. But because so much of their business comes from pregnant teenagers and their adult boyfriends, they are inclined to ignore the law. In May 2002, the online magazine WorldNetDaily reported on the results of a nationwide study conducted by the pro-life research organization Life Dynamics. According to the article, Life Dynamics researchers found "irrefutable evidence" that abortion clinics run by Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers "knowingly conceal" the sexual abuse of minors "while aiding and abetting the sexual predators who commit them."

One of the Life Dynamics researchers posed as a 13-year-old impregnated by her 22-year-old boyfriend. The researcher called 800 abortion clinics across the country, explaining that she needed an abortion to conceal the illicit sexual relationship from her parents and the authorities. What she found was an abortion industry willing, and often eager, to hide her sexual exploitation from her parents and the authorities. According to the study report, the clinics "provided step-by-step instructions on how to circumvent state laws that were enacted specifically for the purpose of protecting children exactly like her (the 13-year-old caller) in situations just like this."
One more frightening statistic from Life Dynamics: "a junior high school girl is more likely to become pregnant by an adult than by someone close to her own age." Our children are at risk, not because of the hypothesis posed by my unhappy reader, but because they are being seduced into sexual relationships they can't handle, and the abortion industry is complicit and profiting from that seduction.

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