Protecting the innocent

Incest is an unspeakable act of violence against an innocent child. It is hard to believe that such a crime can happen in a civilised society. Such an act robs a precious child of their dignity - something which no-one has the right to take, least of all someone that they should be able to trust.

Society has a duty to protect and help such victims. It is easier, as a society to turn our backs, but in facing such injustice we can help to ensure that no child is a victim of violence. Society needs to find constructive solutions, and enforce strong laws that protect children.

A SECOND VICTIM

Society's offering of an abortion to a pregnant incest victim is misplaced compassion. Does it stop the abuse? No. It allows the perpetrator to cover up his crime, and continue to abuse. It completely fails to solve the original problem, which is the sick exploitation of a child.

Abortion is also an act of violence. It punishes yet another innocent victim. It dehumanises a child in the same way. Proponents of abortion for incest victims would do better to focus on the real problem of incest - which is the despicable abuse of an innocent child - and try to create a society where all children are respected and loved; and no child is forgotten.

ABORTION SOLVES NOTHING

It is possible that the victim's pregnancy gives her the first real chance of overcoming the family's denial of the situation and of escaping from it. In such cases, abortion not only adds to the girl's guilt and trauma, it also frustrates her plans for escape and attention.

The unborn child conceived through incest is in a similar position to the child conceived through rape. The child is a human being who, like ourselves, was not able to determine the circumstances of his or her existence. Why should anyone's rights depend on the circumstances of their conception?

DESTROYING THE EVIDENCE

In Dr George Maloof's study in the U.S.A., a large proportion of incest victims wanted to keep their babies. When they did abort, it was usually because of pressure from the impregnating relative (usually the victim's father or step-father), who was seeking to cover up his crime. As with rape, it can be the prejudice of those around the victim that make the pregnancy difficult, as much as the pregnancy itself.

Having the child not only helps expose the incestuous relationship, but also gives hope of beginning the healing process. Those incest victims who have an abortion do so only under pressure from their parents to conceal the incestuous relationship. Because incest is a family pathology that involves father, mother and daughter, all are involved in a conspiracy of silence and abortion helps to promote that silence.

CONSIDER...

• Would an abortion solve the problem of the victim?

• Wouldn't an abortion increase the problem? All an abortion accomplishes is a cover up for the perpetrator

• Why should an innocent victim be punished for another's offense

 

TRUE STORES: Abortion used to cover up incest and abuse of minors

 

Molester Buys Abortion. Twins Get Seven More Years of Rape

In New Orleans, a 41-year-old man received two life sentences for raping his girlfriend's twin daughters and using abortion to cover up his crimes. The victims testified that the assaults began when they were 10 and continued for seven years. One of the girls said she had two abortions after she became pregnant from the man when she was 15 and 17. She said the man paid for one abortion, unbeknownst to the mother. Her mother, who was told that the girl was raped by a date, paid for the second abortion.

 

13-Year-Old Returned to Molester After First Of Two Abortions

In Arizona, a judge found Planned Parenthood negligent for failing to report an abortion performed on a 13-year-old girl who was sexually abused by her 23-year-old foster brother. Shawn Stephens took the girl to the clinic, but Planned Parenthood did not notify authorities until the girl returned six months later for a second abortion. A lawsuit alleged that the girl was subjected to repeated abuse and a second abortion because of the clinic's failure to report suspected abuse. Stephens was sentenced to prison and lifetime probation.

 

Parents Use At Least 10 Abortions to Cover Up Repeated Sexual Abuse of Daughters

The parents of three teenaged girls pleaded guilty in Baltimore Circuit Court to three counts of first-degree rape and child sexual abuse. The father had repeatedly raped the three girls over a period of at least nine years, and the rapes were covered up by at least ten abortions. At least five of the abortions were performed by the same abortionist at the same clinic.

 

Juvenile Prison Sued Over Sexual Abuse, Coerced Abortions of Young Girls

Nine women who had been detained at a state detention facility for juvenile girls in Chalkville, Alabama, filed a lawsuit alleging that male guards at the facility watched them take showers, strip-searched them, pressured or forced them into having sex, beat them, and pressured those who became pregnant into having abortions. More than three dozen girls reportedly made similar allegations, and attorneys said they received additional complaints from women who had been held at Chalkville up to 20 years earlier.

 

Woman: Abuser Punched Her in Stomach After Forced Abortion Doesn't Work; Causes Miscarriage

Augencia Jasso of New Mexico was charged with physically and sexually abusing a young girl over a number of years, beginning when she was seven and living in Mexico. The woman told police that the abuse continued when she moved to New Mexico and that Jasso repeatedly threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone. She also said that when she became pregnant, Jasso took her to a Planned Parenthood office for an abortion, but after finding that the office was closed, he punched her in the stomach, causing her to miscarry.

 

Abuser Poses as Father of 16-Year-Old Girl in Order to Obtain Abortion

David A. Gillis, 36, was sentenced to 18 months to two years in prison for felony child abuse after he posed as the father of a 16-year-old girl whom he was sexually abusing and signed consent forms for an abortion at an Omaha abortion clinic. Gillis claimed he was remorseful about the situation, but prosecutors said he continued to write to the girl while in jail and filed frivolous protection orders against her parents.

 

Man Sentenced to Prison for Ten Years of Sexual Abuse; Victim Had Abortion Out of Fear

Michael Paul Weber of Philadelphia was sentenced to 20-40 years for raping and physically abusing a young girl in his care over a period of ten years, beginning when she was 8 years old. The girl said that when she became pregnant, she had an abortion out of fear of being further abused by Weber.

 

Mom Uses Abortion to Hide Rape of Mentally Disabled Daughter

In August 2011, a Texan mother stands accused of taking her adopted mentally disabled daughter to Ohio to get an abortion in an effort to conceal the fact that her son raped her daughter.

According to a KTRK-TV report, Cynthia Greenwood, 50 faces charges of tampering and fabricating evidence because she took her daughter for the abortion after police began investigating the alleged rape. Officials tell the ABC television station that they believe Greenwood took her mentally disabled girls to Cleveland, Ohio for the abortion in an effort to conceal DNA evidence that could have otherwise been obtained to prove the rape charges.

Court documents KTRK obtained say Greenwood told her daughter she would undergo a medical procedure "so it wouldn't hurt when the baby came out." Although the report does not indicate where Greenwood took her daughter, but Ohio Planned Parenthood there has a history of not informing the authorities about cases of sexual abuse and statutory rape of young girls. Isaac Greenwood, 19, is reportedly the father of the baby. He is Cynthia green's biological son and is suspected of raping the unnamed daughter, who is 13 now and was 12-years-old at the time of the rape. Officials say she told her father about what happened and she is now in foster care.

Read more on the story here at Lifenews

 

Abortion allowed parents to cover up repeated rapes of 12-year-old

A Quebec couple was able to cover up the father's repeated rapes of his 12-year-old daughter by taking her in for an abortion when she became pregnant, a court case in the province revealed in October 2011.

Read more on the story here at Lifesite

Read more on the story here at Cnews

 

These are only examples from court records of lawsuits that were won and abusers who were caught. How many women have gone through similar experiences without getting any form of justice?