Difficult Cases


So called “hard cases” account for no more than 2% of all abortions.

Life of the Mother

What if the pregnancy poses a threat to the life of the mother? Many pro-lifers fumble with this question. First of all, we must understand that this scenario is basically non-existent. C. Everett Koop, M.D., former U.S. Surgeon General, has admitted that in all of his years of medical practice he has never seen a case where abortion was necessary to save a mother’s life. In 1967, former president of Planned Parenthood (America’s single largest abortion provider) Alan Guttmacher said:

“Today it is possible for almost any patient to be brought through pregnancy alive, unless she suffers from a fatal disease such as cancer or leukemia, and if so, abortion would be unlikely to prolong, much less save the life of the mother.”1

It is important to distinguish between direct abortion, which is the intentional, willed, and often violent and torturous destruction of a pre born child, and a legitimate treatment a pregnant mother may choose to save her life even if it may cause the death of her pre born child. This is considered an indirect abortion. In these circumstances, the solid pro-life position believes that the pre born baby is a patient to be cared for and treated the same as the mother if at all possible. Every possible attempt should be made to save both mother and child. Unfortunately, sometimes the pre born child’s death is the unavoidable and unintentional outcome, therefore the medical personnel should allow the baby to die in comfort and with compassion and dignity.

Rape

These disgusting, violent acts horrify us. We call the attacker “sick” and “brutal” and attempt to rehabilitate them. We keep the victims confidential and hidden. And should a pregnancy occur, we destroy the evidence. This process is actuality excuses the guilty, ignores the victim, and murders the innocent. 

Some people believe in good faith that when rape results in pregnancy, abortion can remove the painful evidence of that rape. Rape is an act of violence inflicted upon a woman, an innocent victim. Abortion on the other hand is an act of violence that a mother inflicts on her own child. The mother becomes the aggressor, and this knowledge may haunt her long after she has dealt with the rape. Abortion only re-victimizes raped women. The newly created baby may be the only good, the only healing, that will come to this woman from her rape experience.

Counselors who work with rape victims share that women of rape often believe “that she is somehow tainted, dirty, and dehumanized” and knows “that many will see her either as pitiful and helpless or as disgusting and defiled.”2 It has been reported that women who have had abortions often deal with exactly the same psychological symptoms as the rape victim; depression, guilt, low self-esteem, uncontrollable sadness and withdrawal. The “quick fix” abortion “solution” only intensifies the same symptoms. Some women have described the abortion experience as feeling like rape—a form of surgical rape. 

Raped women who choose not to abort report feeling that abortion would be another act of violence, see an intrinsic meaning or purpose for the child, or feels that if she can get through the pregnancy she will have conquered the rape. Outlasting pregnancy shows that she is better than the rapist who brutalized her. Most women who carry their pregnancies to term see their attitude toward the child improve consistently throughout the pregnancy. Few, if any, wish at the end of the pregnancy that she had aborted.

Incest

is an issue so emotionally charged. Coupling this crime with a resulting pregnancy, some pro-lifer become confused and compromise their defense of the pre born child’s right to life. When a girl becomes pregnant through an incestuous relationship, the problem is no the innocent pre born baby. The problem is the man, the perpetrator of the incest crime. When the incest is allowed to be covered up by abortion, it festers and grows. This not only exploits the victim and robs the pre born child of life, but it protects the perpetrator from exposure so that he may continue to commit his heinous act without fear of discovery.

Some incest victims admit feeling relieved once impregnated because it exposes and provides the evidence of the crime to those who can help and protect her. In studies of incest victims, the vast majority choose to carry the pregnancy to term.3 Many of those in the minority who have an abortion do so only under pressure from their parents.

Handicapped Child


The role of prenatal testing offers today’s parents and doctors the opportunity to detect abnormalities in the pre born child. As a result of such testing, in-utero treatment can be undertaken, special medical teams can be available to assist at the child’s birth, and parents can prepare themselves and others ahead of time for the birth of a child with special needs.

Increasingly, however, prenatal testing is done with the intent to “cure the disease” by killing the child. Such “search and destroy” tactics are based on a eugenics mentality—those that do not meet an arbitrary standard of mental or physical health are not worthy to live. Rather than caring for the ill, medicine in this scenario is dedicated to “quality control.” However, the question arises, by what standard will we measure the value of human life?

Even if a baby will die from a fatal condition anyways, abortion is still violent, intentional killing, and killing must be always wrong. Beverly McMillan if a former abortionist who now is pro-life. As an OB/Gyn., she has seen the huge difference in parents who know that they allowed God to have control over the life of their baby. They have a much easier time grieving the loss of their baby than those parents who caused the death of their child through abortion.

We also must never forget the doctors and tests are sometimes wrong in their prognosis. No doubt, many of times a perfectly healthy baby has been aborted who was thought to be handicapped or ill. Also, aborting for these reasons rejects the idea that God, the Creator of all life and Great Physician, can bring about a healing and restoration to that tiny body if it be His will, or will use that child’s life, disabilities and all, to perform other miracles in the lives that child touches.

Every human life is a gift from God, even if you have to look more closely to see the priceless gift in disguise. Taking the time to car for and love a child with disabilities allows us to serve someone other than ourselves. It fosters patience, understanding, and gratitude for the gifts we have been given. It has been noted by many parents of handicapped children that the idea of killing their children for this reason appalls them. C. Everett Koop has stated,

“It has been my constant experience that disability and unhappiness do not necessarily go together. Some of the most unhappy children whom I have known have all of their physical and mental faculties and on the other hand some of the happiest youngsters have borne burdens which I myself would find very difficult to bear.”


  1. Alan Guttmacher, “Abortion Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” The Case for Legalized Abortion Now, Berkeley, CA: Diablo Books, 1967, p. 9.
  2. Sandra Mahkorn, M.D., and William Dolan, M.D., “Sexual Assault and Pregnancy,” in New Perspectives on Human Abortion, Thomas Hilgers, M.D., et al, eds, Aletheia Books, Frederick, MD, 1981, p. 182.
  3. The Consequences of Incest: Giving and Taking Life, Maloof in the The Psychological Aspects of Abortion, ed. Mall and Watts (1979), pp. 73-110.

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