By now everybody knows Richard Mourdock said "even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that is something that God intended to happen." He never really apologized, though he tried to walk it back, saying he was talking about "life," rather than rape (though he never answered how that rape --> life was God's will). That, though, is not what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about is the hateful and ignorant conversation that followed.
So many people, primarily men, insist a woman should "just" (yeah, right, as if 9 months of pregnancy was the same as sweeping a few leaves or washing a dish) have the baby and put it up for adoption. Really? I have some news for you, folks, in 31 States rapists have paternal rights, and in the others, paternal rights aren't terminated absent a conviction (or in some cases civil finding) for rape. Do you know what that means? Yup, it means the woman can't "just" have the baby and put it up for adoption without the rapist's permission. Think about that for a few minutes, why don't you, before telling a woman what she should "just" do.
What was that? You don't believe me? You don't believe a rapist has parental rights? Here you go.
Most Hoosiers were as shocked as legislators earlier this year when they learned that in Indiana, rapists retain parental rights over children conceived by their violent crime.
Here in Indiana, for example, the legislature thought, for a few minutes at least, about terminating parental rights for rapists. After succumbing to demands that an exception be made for men who raped their wives (after all, what's a little rape between spouses, right?) the law STILL didn't pass.
Folks, please don't tell women what to do with their bodies. And if you must, don't do it from a position of rage and ignorance. Women can't "just" have the baby and put it up for adoption. First, because there is "just" in carrying any baby to term, much less the one forced there by a violent monster. But second, because the law doesn't allow it - the woman actually has to ask the rapist's permission to do it. (As for the question, 'what if she just gives up the baby herself,' well, absent termination of the rapist's parental rights, the rapist gets to be daddy, and who would want that for any child?)
Have all the opinions you want, but before you decide to share them with the rest of us, inform yourself a bit, first, ok?