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From: js2j@mhuxt.UUCP (sonntag)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Re: "The child of a fiend"
Message-ID: <1183@mhuxt.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 7-Oct-85 14:51:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: mhuxt.1183
Posted: Mon Oct  7 14:51:57 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 8-Oct-85 04:07:29 EDT
References: <793@nmtvax.UUCP> <1333@cbsck.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 40

> >Why should she want
> >to give life to his seed that has that gene: the gene for rape! The
> >thought of bringing another of HIS type into the world frightens
> >*me*, to say nothing of how it affects her. Every time she wakes up
> >with morning sickness she remembers the rape.
> >aardvark@nmtvax!unm-la!lanl!ihnp4...
> 
> Anyway, it's interesting to see someone supporting the stigma (and on
> genetic grounds to boot!).  I'm glad there aren't a lot of people who
> seriously believe that there are genes for criminal behaviour.  There
> would be a lot more people thrown into jail as a "preventative" measure :-(.
> Paul Dubuc

      While it is indeed silly to suppose that there is a specific gene
which controls rape, it is equally silly to suppose that *no* factors 
are inherited and that a woman who has been raped can expect a child 
who has been sired by a degenerate to be every bit as bright, lovable and
mentally stable as a child who has been sired by a carefully chosen 
spouse.  It is also unreasonable to refuse to recognize that the
burden of bearing a desperately unwanted child is *much* heavier than
the burden of bearing a desired child.
     The upshot of this all is that a raped woman weighing the decision
to abort or not can easily predict much higher costs and lower rewards 
for carrying the fetus to term than can a woman carrying a fetus sired
by a man she loves.  Another factor which may increase the proportion of
assaulted women who decide to abort is the likelyhood that the abortion
would happen in the first trimester.  While pro-lifers may decide that
none of these considerations are more important than the potential
humanity of the fetus, they should not be suprised that many other women
may not.  Nor should they conclude, on the basis of the fact that more
women who are pregnant as the result of rape choose abortion than women 
who haven't been assaulted, that these women are choosing abortion because
they blame the fetus for their rape.  This is just as reasonable as
concluding that poor people blame their fetuses for their poverty, since
a greater porportion of poverty-stricken women choose abortion. 
-- 
Jeff Sonntag
ihnp4!mhuxt!js2j
    Silly quote: "There are a few off-the-wall extremists, who are shunned
                  by us moderates." - Don Black