Abortion and Rape: What Does the Research Say?
by Sarah Terzo
This article originally appeared on Sarah Terzo’s Substack. You can read more of her articles here. Sarah is a member of the Board of Directors of the Consistent Life Network.
Rape is a horrific crime and a terrible act of injustice. A person who is sexually violated suffers a lifelong trauma.
Pregnancies through rape are statistically rare. Most women can only become pregnant 2-3 days out of every month, around ovulation, so the assault would have to happen during that fertile time. Also, many are on long-acting hormonal birth control that would prevent pregnancy.
But pregnancies through rape do occur. And they understandably cause great upheaval in the victim’s life and the lives of those around her. But do rape victims really benefit from abortion?
Many people believe that a pregnant rape victim would automatically want an abortion. They think that having a baby conceived in rape would add to the victim’s trauma. The child, they say, will be a constant reminder of the rape. And how could a mother possibly love a baby conceived in such a violent, traumatic way?
The belief is that an abortion in these cases is compassionate because pregnancy as a result of rape will destroy a person’s life.
Research on Abortion and Rape
Surprisingly little research has been done on the psychological outcomes and aftermath of rape pregnancies. Even less has been done comparing the psychological sequelae of abortion with those of giving birth.
In fact, I’m only aware of three studies that have ever been done on the issue. A set of two studies by a researcher named Dr. Sandra Mahkorn2 was published in 1979 and 1981.
And then there was a survey conducted by David Reardon, Amy Sobie, and Julie Makimaa, herself a birth mother through rape, in their book Victims and Victors, which compiles the testimonies of women who became pregnant after rape and either aborted or had their children. It is the only book collecting such stories that I know of. It was published in 2000.
The results of these two research projects may surprise you.
Most Rape Victims Chose Life
For one thing, all three studies found that a large majority of rape victims rejected the option of abortion and chose to have their children and either raise them or make adoption plans.
David Reardon, Amy Sobie, and Julie Makimaa1 found that 73% of pregnant rape victims chose life. Sixty-four percent raised their children, and 36% placed their babies for adoption. Sandra Mahkorn2 found similar results – 75% of the women in her studies decided against abortion.
It should be noted that during the time these studies took place, abortion was legal in every state. Mahkorn’s studies were published before the court case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which made it possible for states to enact pro-life laws such as waiting periods, parental notification, and informed consent. There were, then, almost no restrictions on abortion in place at the time of the studies.
When all three studies were conducted, abortion was legal at least up to viability in all 50 states. So, one cannot say these women were unable to choose abortion because of legal barriers. They weren’t prevented from having abortions – they chose to have their babies.
Why Did the Women Choose Life?
So why did they reject abortion? Mahkorn gave the following reasons:
Beliefs that abortion involves violence, killing, or was immoral were the reasons most frequently reported for clients’ decisions against abortion. Client viewpoints such as abortion is a “violent way of ending a human life,” or abortion is “killing” were noted.
Others expressed the belief in an intrinsic meaning to human life, reflected in opinions such as “all life has meaning” or “this child can bring love and happiness into someone’s life.” One pregnant victim related that she felt she would suffer more mental anguish by taking the life of the child.2
Reardon and his co-authors also wrote about the reasons why more women in their study did not abort:
First, approximately 70% of all women believe abortion is immoral, although many may also feel it should be a legal choice for others. Approximately the same percentage of pregnant rape victims believe abortion would be a further act of violence…
Second, many of these women believe that their children’s lives may have some intrinsic meaning or purpose which they do not yet understand . . .
Third, victims of assault often become introspective. Their sense of the value of life and respect for others is heightened. Since they have been victimized, the thought that they in turn might victimize their own innocent children through abortion is repulsive.
Fourth, the victim may sense, at least at a subconscious level, that if she can get through the pregnancy, she will have conquered the rape
. . . Giving birth, especially when conception was not desired, is a totally selfless act, a generous act, a display of courage, strength, and honor. It is proof that she is better than the rapist . . . While he destroyed, she can nurture.1
So right off the bat, we see that the assumption that all people who become pregnant because of rape want to have abortions is false. In both these studies, it was not the chosen answer for most of the women.
Giving Birth vs. Abortion
But what about the emotional aftereffects? Did those who carried their pregnancies to term suffer further trauma?
Mahkorn interviewed therapists who worked with rape survivors. She had them measure qualities such as self-esteem, anxiety, fear, satisfaction with present life situation, loneliness, depression, and contentedness. The therapists were asked to rate the intensity of these feelings.
A measurement was done when a woman first contacted the counselor and then later in therapy.
Mahkorn found that, across the board, the women who gave birth scored better in the later evaluations. They showed improvements in positive traits and decreases in negative ones. This indicated that the women were healing and adjusting. According to Mahkorn:
[This study illustrates] that pregnancy need not impede the victim’s resolution of the trauma . . . rather, with loving support, nonjudgmental attitudes, and emphatic communication, healthy emotional and psychological responses are possible despite the added burden of pregnancy.2
The Reardon survey took a slightly different approach. Rather than asking a third party about the women’s adjustment, surveys were sent out to the women themselves. They were asked whether they regretted their choice and how they felt about it now.
According to the answers, 88% of women who had abortions regretted them and felt they had made the wrong decision. Out of the remaining 12%, just one woman expressed only positive feelings about her abortion and was sure it was the right choice.
The remaining women were ambivalent, feeling they may have made the right decision but acknowledging that the abortion was traumatic for them. They said things like, “It bothers me a lot, but maybe it was for the best.”1
The responses of the women who had their babies stand in strong contrast to those who aborted.
Of those who carried to term, none regretted having their baby or wished they had aborted instead. Over 80% explicitly expressed happiness about their child and their situation. Only one woman expressed any regret, and that was about her choice regarding adoption – she was glad she had her baby. All of them were.
Pressure to Abort
In addition, 43% said that they felt pressured to choose abortion by their family and/or by abortion workers. Family members were deeply uncomfortable with their pregnancies and weren’t supportive about continuing them.
Rape victims do not need reminders that they were raped. The trauma is with them every moment of every day – they will not forget, no matter what happens to the baby.
Often, instead, the pregnancy is a reminder to those around the woman – her family and friends – that she has been raped, and this reminder makes them very uncomfortable. A lot of people cannot understand why a woman would want to continue a pregnancy associated with rape.
They believe abortion will help her “get over” the rape, and that once the pregnancy (the outward sign) is gone, things can return to normal. In reality, it can take many years to come to terms with trauma from sexual assault, and most people are never the same afterwards – the trauma doesn’t disappear if the pregnancy “goes away.”
People’s discomfort and their assumptions can manifest as considerable pressure on the rape victim to conform to what those around her (and the greater society) find acceptable, and “choose” abortion.
Abortion as a “Solution” to Rape?
What about their opinions about what other women should do in the same circumstances? Ninety-three percent of the rape victims who aborted said they would not recommend abortion to someone else who was pregnant due to rape. Only 7% felt that abortion could be a good solution in cases of rape.
Ninety-three percent of the women who had abortions, then, would encourage other rape victims not to make the same choice they did.
Of the women who gave birth, 94% said that abortion wasn’t a good answer to a pregnancy conceived in rape. Of the 82 women in the survey who chose to have their babies, only four said that abortion “might” be a good solution in some cases – even though it wasn’t in theirs. The rest said that abortion would never be the right choice for someone who was raped.
This survey by David Reardon and his colleagues is 25 years old. The Mahkorn studies are even older. It would be good if more studies were conducted. But even though the research is older, it challenges the common assumptions about rape and pregnancy.
According to this research, abortion after rape doesn’t help a rape survivor heal. It only robs an innocent child of life and further traumatizes the victim.
Sources
- David C Reardon, Julie Makimaa, and Amy Sobie. Victims and Victors: Speaking out about Their Pregnancies, Abortions, and Children Resulting from Sexual Assault (Springfield, Illinois: Acorn Books, 2000)
- Sandra Kathleen Mahkorn, MD, and William V Dolan, MD. “Sexual Assault in Pregnancy,” Thomas Hilgers, Dennis Horan, and David Mall, Eds. New Perspectives on Human Abortion (Frederick, Maryland: University Publications of America, 1981); Sandra Kathleen Mahkorn, “Pregnancy and Sexual Assault,” David Mall and Walter Watts, Eds. The Psychological Aspects of Abortion (Washington, DC: University Publications of America, 1979)
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For more of our coverage on abortion and rape, see:
Abortion When it Involves a Rape: See the Faces
Abortion Facilitates Sex Abuse: Documentation
The Message of “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”: Abortion Gets Sexual Predators Off the Hook
How Abortion is Useful for Rape Culture
A Pro-Life Feminist Critique of the “Rape and Incest Exception”
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