Protect Them Both

Survivors of Rape Speak Out: Abortion is NOT the Solution

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"She realized that the pain of abortion could not erase the pain of rape. She realized that I should have life despite the horrific actions of my biological father." - Dustin

 

I asked my Dad to stop the car and said I didn’t know what I would do (keep the baby or adoption), but that I would accept the task of carrying the child until she was born — to choose LIFE for her. I felt overcome with a duty to protect this helpless life growing inside me. I had seen her heartbeat. I knew instantly in that car, that it wasn’t her fault, no matter who fathered her.” – Crystal

Resources for Rape Survivors

Need 24/7 help immediately? Call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline
CALL 800.656.HOPE (4673) Or visit Rainn.org for a live chat option.
Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault
https://www.lafasa.org Survivors are strong, resilient, and brave, but they cannot fight their battles alone. Survivors of sexual assault have endured unspeakable hardship and live with a wide array of dangers on a daily basis. LaFASA is the coalition agency that serves statewide sexual assault crisis centers through education, professional training, technical assistance, and community engagement resulting in safer, healthier, stronger, and better-informed communities throughout Louisiana. LaFASA also provides advocacy and legal services directly to survivors and cultivates prevention in our communities.
Sexual Trauma Awareness and Response
https://star.ngo/ To support survivors of sexual trauma, improve systems response, and create social change to end sexual violence
The Butterfly Society
theButterflySociety.org
The Butterfly Society offers a variety of services to persons in the community who have been impacted by domestic violence, including: advocacy, information and referrals, outreach, support groups, and safety planning.
Pregnancy Resource Centers
FindHelpLA.com
If you have become pregnant after sexual assault, your local pregnancy resource center can provide a place of help, comfort, and advice as you consider your options, and can assist you as you continue your pregnancy and after the birth of your baby. If a social worker is on staff they will help you with your next steps toward justice. All services are free and confidential. The services offered by a center vary, but generally, pregnancy centers offer free pregnancy tests, counseling services, ultrasounds, baby supplies, maternity clothes, parenting or adoption assistance, financial and material resources for groceries, transportation, childcare options, housing and safety help, family assistance referrals, and much more for a mother both before and after the birth of her baby.
Adoption Agencies
prolifegala-com.prolifelouisiana.org/adoption
If you are thinking about or have decided that adoption is the right decision for you, Louisiana has a multitude of agencies and attorneys that can help you make the right adoption plan for you and your baby. 
Save the 1
Savethe1.com
If you have become pregnant after rape or were conceived in rape, there is an organization that provides community support for you as well as opportunities for advocacy for other people like you! Save The 1’s mission is to educate everyone on why all pre-born children should be protected by law and accepted by society, without exception and without compromise.  Further, we wish to educate prolife advocates, legislatures, leaders, and clergy on how to articulate a proper defense of children conceived in rape or incest, as well as those with special needs.  Our purpose is to tell our stories, to demonstrate the value and dignity of our lives, and take the discussion of the “hard cases” from “concept” to “real life”.  We strive to reveal the truth that there have been tens of thousands of mothers pregnant by rape and tens of thousands of rape-conceived children all around us,  and that there is help, support and hope for all in those unfortunate cases.
Many financial and material resources are available in Louisiana to those facing unplanned pregnancies, and pregnancy centers and adoption agencies are eager to connect you with those resources. If you are pregnant and in need of help, we strongly encourage you to find a center near you.

Should Abortion be Legal in Cases of Rape?

“You can’t force a rape survivor to carry a pregnancy to term.” Many believe this is a compassionate statement that proves justification for abortion, even by many who consider themselves pro-life.

Any woman who is a survivor of rape has suffered one of the worst forms of violence and injustice. She needs concrete help from her community to find safety, to receive justice, and begin healing. Social services and Laws must be improved to help and protect women, in addition to improving a culture that abhors and prevents rape and incest.

We must understand that abortion does nothing to give the women the healing she needs and deserves. Abortion does not erase the rape or undo the violence. If a baby has been conceived, abortion would then subject a woman and her child to another act of violence. Many rape survivors have testified that abortion is an obstacle to healing after rape. Instead, abortion compounds trauma and is violence to another innocent victim.

Now considering her baby, we have to ask the question, is someone’s life really worth less than anyone else’s because of the way they were conceived?

If you were shown two ultrasound photos and was told one of these babies was conceived in rape, and the other baby was conceived in a stable marriage, would you be able to point out which one was which? No, because your circumstance does not determine whether or not you are human.

 

If a two year old was conceived out of rape, and the mother had a difficult time with this toddler because he reminded her of the rapist… would we say that she can kill her toddler? No, because we should not kill innocent human beings, and especially not for another’s crime.

 

Under our current laws, we do not even give rapists the death penalty because our Supreme Court has determined that this punishment for this crime is “cruel and barbaric” (Kennedy v. Louisiana). To put the child to death is to give a rapist more rights than an innocent baby. That is certainly cruel and barbaric.

Abortion starves, tears, dismembers, crushes, and kills a living human being. Abortion is not a solution, much less a compassionate one. Rapists need to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Love and support need to be given to both the woman and her child.

Stephanie Reynold, whose own mother was a victim of rape, explains this viewpoint further in the video below.

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Please consider sharing your story. You can help the people of Louisiana know how to love and protect women and children, who have survived sexual assault, against the additional trauma of abortion.

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