Kenneth Lamb, a 28-year old man from Wilder, Idaho, will spend at least 15 years behind bars for impregnating a 12-year old girl, forcing her to have an abortion and for conspiring to escape from prison.
Lamb could spend as many as 30 years in jail on the felony convictions for lewd conduct with a minor child and conspiracy to escape from the jail. Court records indicate he pleaded guilty back in January. Lamb confessed to his crimes, officials said, calling himself a “child molester.”
It’s encouraging that the judicial system is taking the proper course of action and holding Lamb accountable for his crimes. However, we will never know the number of girls across the country that have been molested and then forced to have abortions against their will. The abortion industry, which claims to support women, does nothing to protect these girls from entering right back into the cycle of abuse. Too often in these sexual abuse cases, abortion centers merely serve as a rubber stamp for the abuser. Women in these desperate cases need protection and assistance, not abortion.
Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin recently signed into law legislation with the intent of stopping coerced abortions. Sue Armacost, Legislative Director for Wisconsin Right to Life, praised the law saying, “For far too long, numbers of women have reported that they were coerced into having abortions. SB 306 ensures that an assessment will be made to determine if a woman’s consent to an abortion is voluntary. The bill requires that the abortionist speak to the woman in private to determine if she is being coerced. If she is a potential or actual victim of domestic abuse, the abortionist must give her information on where she can receive help.”
According to data from the Elliot Institute, as many as 64 percent of abortions involve some sort of coercion. Research shows 45 percent of men interviewed at abortion clinics recalled urging abortion, including 37 percent of married men. Teenage women remain at the highest risk of being coerced to have an abortion. Not surprisingly, these statistics are omitted when abortion advocates claim abortion is a “right to choose.” Abortion cannot be the mother’s free choice if she is being coerced, even to the point of violence.
The abortion industry has faced numerous lawsuits across the country for covering up cases of sexual abuse and forced abortion. Planned Parenthood in Illinois came under fire last year for lobbying against a child sex abuse reporting bill. These actions by the abortion industry do not help women. The abortion industry fails to aid the victim in her most desperate time of need but rather empowers her oppressor.
While abortion advocates have taken to labeling pro-life legislation “a war on women,” the case of Kenneth Lamb in Idaho shows that the real threat to women is coercion and a lack of resources. If a law, like that which was just signed in Wisconsin, had been in effect perhaps Lamb’s 12-year old victim could have avoided a forced abortion and been offered the protection and assistance she deserved.
