I just finished reading a book by Francine Rivers called “The Atonement Child.” It’s an amazing book and I encourage everyone to read it. It stirred up some thoughts about the way we handled babies who had been conceived in rape in the abortion clinic during my time working there.
Disclaimer: This post is probably going to contain some unpleasant information, but I just wanted to share it.
When a woman is raped, the police can use the fetal tissue for DNA. In most rape cases, we would be asked to draw two tubes of the mother’s blood and collect the “products of conception” after the abortion. All of this has to be kept in a very strict “chain of custody.”
So, if I was in charge, I would draw the woman’s blood before the abortion, put the tubes in a “chain of custody” bag, fill out the information on the bag, seal it up and put it in the refrigerator. Then, when she went in to the room for the abortion, I would accompany her into the room, stand by the suction machine and wait for the procedure to be completed. The jar with the “products of conception” would then be handed to me and I would take the jar into the lab.
Then, I would “float” the “products of conception” in a Pyrex dish. “Floating” is the process of dumping all of the contents into a kitchen strainer and using a sprayer to wash all of the blood, as well as additional tissue away from the “product of conception.” Then, to “float” the tissue, you spray a little water into the Pyrex dish and dump the remaining tissue into the dish, the tissue actually floats. Then, you will be able to reassemble the fetal parts.
After all of the parts were reassembled and accounted for, I would gather them up and put them in a sterile cup, ensuring to be careful so that everything went into that cup and that I hadn’t left anything behind. I would close the cup, put it in the “chain of custody” bag, fill out the info on the bag, seal it up, and carefully put the bag in the freezer.
Usually, the police department would come and pick up the blood tubes and frozen tissue the next day. They would have us fill out a form to ensure the “chain of custody” had not been broken. We would carefully pack the items into a Styrofoam cooler with an ice pack and send them off with the officer.
I realize now how strange that was. These are the rape conceived children. These are the “exceptions.” These are the ones that the pro-lifers can excuse, right? But, we took such good care of them in the abortion industry. It seems ironic that so many in the pro-life movement can justify the death of children conceived in rape, but the abortion industry does their best to protect their remains. It’s strange. I just wanted to give you something to think about.
Well, as a Catholic pro-lifer, I can’t justify abortion in the event of rape, though I cannot even begin to fathom how difficult it would be to carry a child conceived in a brutal or non-consenting fashion to full-term. My heart goes out to those brave women.
That being said, what burns me up are the number of pro-choice advocates (including those who oppose abortion in principle, but don’t think they can “tell someone else what to do with her body”) who chime in with “But what about rape? Incest? The mother’s health?” The thing is, those pro-choicers don’t REALLY just want to stop there. EVEN IF the government said, “Ok, in the case of rape, incest, or imminent death of the mother, we will allow abortion. In every other case, it is illegal,” there would still be the howls of protest. Plus, I’d love to see some stats on the number of abortions that actually occur for cases of rape or incest. Are there any out there?
Yes. The stat is less than 1%…still too many. :/
It makes me more angry that there are pro-LIFE people who say…well, what about rape victims. Those are even more prevalent! Sad. We just need to keep educating!!
🙁 Lives lost to fear… It breaks my heart…
A question, Abby. Does PP sell fetal tissue for research? I have heard that fetal organs are harvested and fetch big money, is this true? and, if so, who is buying the tissue?
Yes…but it is very rare. They are studies performed by national research companies.
Keep educating people, Abby. Know that many appreciate you for doing exactly this, even though it must also be painful at times. God bless!
Thank you for all that you share and do, Abby. I absolutely believe that abortion in any case is wrong.
You might be interested in an article I wrote not too long ago about the thoughts of another “pro-lifer,” regarding the justifications of certain abortions. http://anun-civilwar.blogspot.com/2011/02/mercy-not-murder.html
I was out collecting signatures against obamacare and for the right to choose our health care (and life!). I was so shocked by what this woman said to me, as according to her very words, I should have been murdered before birth! The justification of abortion for one situation will always lead to another, as we have already seen.
Abby — I was a bobble head, constantly nodding as I listened to you at our Hope Pregnancy Center banquet tonight in Belton. Thanks so much for coming and encouraging us in the fight tonight. Concerning your comment about rape, I’ve got the following to say:
The real question is “who is God?” Is God able to turn something horrible into something for His glory? Can He take the victim of a rape and her child and use both for His fame? Absolutely.
To justify killing the innocent victim in a rape situation (the baby) is really strange.
I had an abortion before I became a Christian. I was pro-choice for about 3 years after I became a Christian. I figured I would be a hypocrite if I said “it was okay for me to have an abortion and get on with my life, career, etc, but it’s NOT okay for you.” What my argument left out was the sovereignty of God.
He could have made everything new in ways that only He can. People who say abortion is justified in the case of rape are actually saying that God is unable to work through that situation. That, my friends, is NOT faith.
I was drugged and raped by a guy who I considered my friend, my daughter was the result. The moment I found out I was pregnant I couldn’t have been happier. My son,who was 2 at the time, kept talking about his baby sister. I didn’t even know I was pregnant then! God gave my son the wisdom of what was to come, I couldn’t have been happier. :).
I have read ‘Atonement Child’ many many times, and even though I know exactly how the story goes I can guarantee I will spend half the book in tears. I have been pro-life for as long as I remember, and I didn’t have any exceptions, but this book gave me an answer to those who do. It grieves me when I hear Christians say that it would be too traumatic for a mother to carry a baby that was conceived as a result of rape/incest, and abortion is the best alternative. Surely the trauma of killing an innocent victim (whether they realised that at the time or down track) would eclipse any trauma of bringing new life into the world. And pregnancy clinics (and I’m sure many other organisations) can offer so much support these days.
Scripture is so clear (and repeatedly so) that God can and does take what man meant for evil and makes it beautiful and good. I just wish that more Christians understood this and knew that choosing life is always better.