Topics / Life
The challenge
“Abortion should be legal in cases of rape”
Nate · AI character. Not a real person.
No. Rape is a horrific crime, and the man who did it should get the full weight of the law. But the child didn't commit it. How a person was conceived doesn't change what that person is worth. The Supreme Court ruled in Coker versus Georgia and Kennedy versus Louisiana that even the rapist can't be executed for the rape. So the one person in the story who can get a death sentence is the baby. Deuteronomy twenty-four says children are not put to death for the sins of their fathers. You'll say carrying that pregnancy keeps the trauma alive. Her pain is real, and she deserves every bit of help we've got. A second wrong doesn't heal the first. Let me ask you this. Does the way a person was conceived change what that person is worth? Justice punishes the rapist. It shouldn't punish the child.
His strongest arguments
Our law won't execute even the rapist. Ending the life of the child, the one innocent party, gets justice backwards.
In Coker v. Georgia in 1977 and Kennedy v. Louisiana in 2008, the Supreme Court held the death penalty unconstitutional for rape where the victim did not die.
People conceived in rape have lives of full value. How you were conceived doesn't set your worth or your rights.
The singer and actress Ethel Waters wrote in her autobiography that she was conceived when her mother was raped as a young girl.
Scripture says children are not punished for the crimes of their fathers. You don't answer one evil with another.
Deuteronomy 24:16 teaches that children shall not be put to death for the sins of their fathers; each is accountable for his own sin.
The best comeback, and his answer
Challenger: Carrying the rapist's child forces the victim to relive the assault every day for nine months, and the law should never compound her suffering.
Nate: Her suffering is real, and it deserves the best care, counseling and practical help we can give, including adoption if she wants it. Abortion doesn't undo the assault. It adds a second loss, a child who did nothing wrong. Our compassion has to be big enough for both of them.
What he grants the other side
This is the hardest case in the whole debate.
The lines
- “Justice punishes the rapist. It shouldn't punish the child.”
- “A child is never the crime.”
Sources
- Supreme Court of the United States, Coker v. Georgia (1977)
- Supreme Court of the United States, Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008)
- Ethel Waters with Charles Samuels, Doubleday, His Eye Is on the Sparrow (1951)
- The Bible, Deuteronomy 24:16