June 11, 2025
The hardest question of all…
What about rape? That is the most frequent question about abortion I get when I address student audiences. It is still a question many prolifers struggle with, especially legislators.
FFL Speaker, now Public Education Coordinator and Editor, Joyce McCauley-Benner’s answer needs to be shared:
“In every discussion or debate surrounding abortion, the quintessential question of “What about pregnancy from rape?” is raised. Abortion, for some, is only reserved for these toughest of cases.
But should it be?
Can we equally support victims, advocate for justice for them, while also defending the innocent life that has been created in the harshest of circumstances?
As Feminists for Life, we answer YES. We refuse to choose between the woman we have always championed for and the innocent life dependent on her.
As a survivor of rape, who found myself pregnant afterwards, I appreciate the desire to limit the additional stress of an unplanned pregnancy. I appreciate the thought that the pregnancy may bring with it triggers and memories of the horror of the crime. And I understand the fear that perhaps this pregnancy will forever tie me to my perpetrator. And if healing were that simple, that easy to deconstruct, maybe the solution would be, too. But there is not one way to heal, nor is there only one outcome to pregnancy after rape.
For many survivors, the child conceived becomes the one good thing to come of the horrific crime; still others state the abortion procedure was intensely triggering and only added another layer of trauma from which to heal.
For me, the realization that there was as much of me in this child as there was the potential rapist-father was powerful.
We must move on from the archaic belief that only paternity matters in a person. Surely the crimes of rapists do not define their children, for what about the strength of their mothers?
We do not rank our dignity, our equality, or our right to exist on the circumstances of our conception.”
Nothing is more divisive than when we talk about rape.
As advocates of life, peace, and justice for all, we will never trade one form of violence for another.
Do you have a pro-choice question that needs a pro-woman answer? Email them to info@feministsforlife.org.
Please share Joyce’s answer to this most crucial question, with your family and friends, faith group, and legislators. Thank you!
Because women deserve better,
Serrin M. Foster
President
P.S. You can find Joyce’s full article “What About Rape?” in “The Missing Peace” edition of The American Feminist. Order your copy today!