Abortion

woman who becomes pregnant due to an act of either rape or incest is the victim of a horribly violent and morally reprehensible crime. Although pregnancy as a result of either rape or incest isextremely rare,[1] there is no getting around the fact that pregnancy does occur in some instances. Bioethicist Andrew Varga summarizes the abortion argument from rape and incest in the following way:It is argued that in these tragic cases the great value of the mental health of a woman who becomes pregnant as a result of rape or incest can best be safe-guarded by abortion. It is also said that apregnancy caused by rape or incest is the result of a grave injustice and that the victim should not be obliged to carry the fetus to viability. This would keep reminding her for nine months of theviolence committed against her and would just increase her mental anguish. It is reasoned that the value of the woman's mental health is greater than the value of the fetus. In addition, it is maintainedthat the fetus is an aggressor against the woman's integrity and personal life; it is only just and morally defensible to repel an aggressor even by killing him if that is the only way to defendpersonal and human values. It is concluded, then, that abortion is justified in these cases. [2]

Despite its forceful appeal to our sympathies, there areproblems with this argument.

1. It is notrelevant to the case for abortion on demand, the position defended by the popular pro-choice movement. This position states that a woman has aright to have an abortion for any reason she prefers duringthe entire nine months of pregnancy, whether it be for gender-selection, convenience, or rape.[3] To argue for abortion on demand from the hard cases of rape and incest is like trying to argue for theelimination of traffic laws from the fact that one might have to violate some of them in rare circumstances, such as when one's spouse or child needs to be rushed to the hospital. Proving an...