Survey Shows 80% of Women Who Were Raped and Had Abortions Regretted Their Decision

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Aug 29, 2022   |   5:59PM   |   Washington, DC

Misplaced compassion often compels people to support abortion in cases of rape.

But aborting an unborn baby does nothing to heal the mother from the horrific abuse that she suffered. Often the opposite, according to research.

“Ending the life of a preborn human being, regardless of how she was conceived, does not address the crime of her father and does not improve the primary victim’s mental health outcomes,” said Dr. Christina Francis, an Indiana OB-GYN and CEO-elect of the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

In an interview with The Federalist, Francis expressed compassion for victims of sexual abuse while pointing out that abortion is not a proven physical or psychological treatment for their trauma.

“Women and girls who have been through this tragic experience deserve the best health care, both physical and mental, that we can possibly provide,” she said. “They deserve to be treated with methods that have been proven to actually improve their outcomes.”

Francis highlighted a survey by the Elliot Institute that found between 50 percent and 80 percent of women who conceived unborn babies from rape chose to carry their baby to term.

REACH PRO-LIFE PEOPLE WORLDWIDE! Advertise with LifeNews to reach hundreds of thousands of pro-life readers every week. Contact us today.

Additionally, 80 percent of rape victims who had abortions later regretted their decision, the survey found. Some women said their abortion felt like a second “medical rape” and only added to their trauma.

“Many people assume that by getting rid of the preborn child, a potential reminder of the rape, the mother will be able to move past that trauma faster and easier,” Francis continued. “However, abortion is not and has never been a mental health treatment for rape.”

Proven treatments for sexual abuse victims include trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy or psychodynamic therapy, Francis said. Additionally, these women and girls deserve compassion, active listening and evidence-based therapy, she continued.

“There is no evidence of a mental health benefit to abortion under any circumstance. Even the studies based on the Turnaway cohort, which are often quoted by abortion advocates to claim harm to women from being denied an abortion, show that by five years later, 96 percent of women were glad they did not have an abortion,” she said.

Many sexual abuse survivors have urged abortion activists to stop using them and their children as tools in the abortion debate.

One woman, “Kathleen,” told researchers: “I, having lived through rape, and also having raised a child ‘conceived in rape,’ feel personally assaulted and insulted every time I hear that abortion should be legal because of rape and incest. I feel that we’re being used by pro-abortionists to further the abortion issue, even though we’ve not been asked to tell our side of the story.”