Answers to abortion activism

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, January 5th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, January 5th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

BROWN: Over the past few months, we’ve presented a series of pro-life answers to common pro-abortion arguments. So far we’ve heard arguments about the definition of a human and when a baby’s life begins.

REICHARD: Today, a more raw topic. We’re grappling with the question of babies conceived under tragic circumstances.

Here’s WORLD Correspondent Caleb Bailey.

WILEY: And I've never fully agreed with it, because it never looks at the woman's point of view.

CALEB BAILEY, CORRESPONDENT: Wiley is a pro-abortion activist. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina.

WILEY: Because there's so many questions left unanswered, because you have people that have been sexually abused, you have people that have been abused from incest.

Wiley has attended dozens of protests supporting groups like Black Lives Matter and women’s rights organizations. For him, this question is very personal: What about babies conceived through rape?

WILEY: My wife of 12 years passed away a couple of years ago. And while she was alive, she was raped, and she had an abortion from it, because she didn't want to keep the baby.

Abortion advocates often use this argument when pushing for legal abortion. Why should a woman who has experienced the trauma of rape be reminded of that fact each and every day as they care for the baby?

Randy Alcorn is a popular speaker and author of Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments.

Alcorn says that trauma is real. That pain is real. But abortion is a misdirected response.

ALCORN: The horrific thing is not made less horrific, by doing a horrific thing to the child who was born as the result of it. And I think we just sometimes we project our wrath concerning the horrible thing onto the child. And I've heard people say, No woman has the responsibility, or the duty to give birth to a monster and I go, how is that child the monster? That child's not a monster, you could say that the man who inflicted the rape, call him a monster if you wish. But don't talk about punishing the child.

The dilemma is not new. In fact, it was at the beginning of the legal fight for abortion in the 1970s.

Norma McCorvey went by the pseudonym Jane Roe in Roe v. Wade. She originally said her pregnancy was a result of rape, but later confessed to lying about that.

Still, for other women, it’s a painful reality.

ALCORN: The Alan Guttmacher Institute, which was originally founded by and funded by a Planned Parenthood, says in a survey of over 1200 women, 1.5% of abortions reported resulted from rape or incest.

Alcorn observes that number might be lower or higher, but not by much. Some reported rapes may be false and others may go unreported.

But, most sources report the number is below 2%.

ALCORN: Now, just because something doesn't happen often doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Ryan Bomberger co-founded the Radiance Foundation with his wife, Bethany. The nonprofit’s mission is to highlight the value of every human life.

BOMBERGER: I'm one of those stories. My birth mom experienced the horror and the violence of rape. And although the she was a victim of the violence, of rape, she did not make me a victim of the violence of abortion.

Bomberger has spoken to a wide range of sexual assault victims. He’s noticed a common pattern among post-abortive women.

BOMBERGER: Overwhelmingly, they shared their regret of having an abortion, they share the fact that the child would have been something that could have brought them healing, they shared, you know, the rapist didn't get punished, yet they felt like they were the ones who were punished because they are the ones have to live with the lifetime have not only experienced that the violence of rape, but then the violence of abortion that they were so quickly pushed into.

Suzanne Maurer was raped in 1960. Back then, abortion wasn’t an option in her home state of Oregon.

Maurer conceived a son and was pressured into marrying the man who raped her. The marriage was riddled with hurt, and she divorced him shortly after their second child Rick was born.

But the story wasn’t over. When Rick heard his mother’s story as an adult, he gave her a fresh perspective.

MAURER: And he said, Mom, do you realize if you'd have had an abortion, I wouldn't be sitting next to you right now. When we talk about abortion, to realize it's not just about one child. It's not just about the mother. It's not just about the father. I mean, I could show you my picture of my four children and 10 grandchildren, none of them would be alive today. God creates life.

Remarriage, adoption, and two more children. Maurer’s story of pain has turned into a beautiful story of redemption—topped off by a gift from Darin, the son conceived in rape.

MAURER: He said, Well, Mom, I don't see any pictures of my biological father, and you don't talk about him. But tomorrow, you're going to open up a gift that's going to explain so much for you, and gonna really help you. And the beauty of our story is that for my 40th birthday, Darin gave me a Bible that changed my life forever.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Caleb Bailey, in Asheville, North Carolina.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.