In London, Charles Bell has admitted to five accounts of rape and was sentenced to 14 and a half years in prison. However, he believes that sentence is too long even though he repeatedly raped a 14-year-old girl and she became pregnant.
Unfortunately, the girl was forced to have an abortion and is now struggling with the aftermath. The Star reports that the abortion has had “devastating and continuing sociological impact on her.” Additionally, the girl says she is tormented with guilt because of “the knowledge she killed her baby.”
Thankfully, the Judge who sentenced Bell, Laura Cox, disagreed and said that his sentence isn’t a day too long. She said, “These were extremely serious crimes. This appeal against sentence fails.” The victim explained to the court in a statement that the abuse felt like it lasted a lifetime.
The truth is abortion is always a tragedy and has devastating effects on those involved; but those effects are only heightened for teenagers since they’re making such a grave decision at a critical time in their development.
As LifeNews previously reported, one study found that teenage girls who had one or more abortions were ten times more likely to commit suicide than those who never aborted. And another study revealed that the rate of psychiatric hospitalization for teenagers who had abortions is three times higher than that of other teens.
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Additionally, teenagers are often victims of sexual abuse like this 14-year-old and abortion is used to cover up crimes by adult perpetrators. For example, last year a 30-year-old babysitter in England repeatedly raped a 12-year-old girl and then raped her again the same day she aborted their child. The abuser told the girl that the pregnancy was “all her fault” and coached her in how to hide his actions if questioned by police. Thankfully the perpetrator is behind bars, but the 12-year-old may never be able to have children.
Furthermore, studies show that over 65% of women who have abortions suffer from post-abortive syndrome, 31% have health complications, and post abortive women are six-times more likely to commit suicide than women who give birth. Also, many women who have abortions are coerced or forced into it by parents, spouses, abusers or partners.
In the United Kingdom, some minors can get abortions without the consent of their parents. While most people agree that parental involvement is imperative, the abortion industry has historically lobbied against measures to protect underage girls.