The Anti-Abortion / Rape Nexus

Almost 65,000 women are estimated to have become pregnant after rape in states that ban abortion. Abortion bans perpetuate a rapist's acts.

Photo by Carolina Heza on Unsplash

You may have already read the news that researchers estimate some 65,000 women have become pregnant from rape in states that ban abortion — meaning that some 65,000 are told by their states that they cannot terminate pregnancies that were violently forced on them. Most states that ban abortion offer no exception for rape survivors. The few that do have rape exceptions don’t take a woman’s word that rape occurred; they require her to report it to the police, something the vast majority of sexual assault survivors do not do.

The anti-abortion movement is almost entirely unified in opposition to rape exceptions. They argue that the circumstances of conception don’t change a fertilized egg’s right to life, and or the apparent fact that its rights supersede a woman’s. And to be honest with you, I think rape exceptions are in practice largely meaningless, given that in the US they typically require a rape survivor to report to police, or provide some other proof.

Rape exceptions are nevertheless popular among the general public, and it’s easy to understand why: I think many people intuitively understand that rape is a crime of power and control as much as sex, and that forcing a woman to continue a pregnancy conceived in rape adds another level of violation. The anti-abortion movement doesn’t seem to think this is a big deal, and abortion opponents have said that pregnancy from rape provides an “opportunity” for a young woman to “be a productive human being.” They have argued that a pregnancy resulting from rape is a “gift from God” and “something God intended to happen.”

Rape: All part of God’s beautiful plan for your life, and a path to productivity.

To normal people, this is repulsive. But there are two things to understand about rape, pregnancy, and abortion bans. The first is that pregnancies resulting from rape are not in fact rare, as this new data demonstrates. The second is that the misogynist mentality that begets rape — the idea that a woman does not have autonomy over her own body, that some else gets to use her body for their own purposes — is identical to the “pro-life” mentality, which also says that a woman’s body is not hers, and that the state may use its power to force her to have her body used against her will.

No wonder anti-abortion organizations are comfortable further forcing rape victims to have their bodies used against their will. Anti-abortion organizations exist because a critical mass of people believe that women’s bodies must be used against our will.

This isn’t just a story about 65,000 pregnancies from rape. It’s a story about how a powerful political movement has succeeded in getting state governments to treat women like vessels — just as rapists do.