On Monday justices of the peace in Washington County tabled a resolution that would have called on the State of Arkansas to weaken its pro-life laws, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
On June 24 the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade. The decision allowed states to enforce their own laws permitting, restricting, or prohibiting abortion. As a result, Arkansas began enforcing Act 180 of 2019 that generally prohibits abortion.
On Monday the Washington County Quorum Court’s County Service Committee briefly considered — and voted to table — a resolution calling for state lawmakers to add exceptions for rape and incest to Arkansas’ pro-life law.
Of course, this isn’t a new conversation. In 2019 and 2021 there was a lot of discussion at the capitol about putting exceptions for rape and incest in Arkansas’ pro-life laws. Ultimately, legislators decided to pass a pro-life law that prohibited abortion except when the mother’s life is at risk.
Rape and incest are evil. A woman who is raped is a victim in every sense of the word, and only about 2%–5% of all abortions are performed because of rape of incest.
In light of that, it’s easy for some elected officials to justify abortion in these situations. But there are serious problems with permitting abortion in cases of rape or incest.
The unborn baby is totally innocent. It is not right to kill an unborn baby because the baby’s father was a rapist.
Abortion doesn’t heal the trauma that rape or incest leave behind. Abortion takes the life of an unborn baby, it carries significant risks for the woman, and its consequences are very serious.
Abortion may actually help conceal rape and incest from authorities. Sexual predators sometimes coerce their victims into having abortions to conceal rape or incest.
In 2016 abortionist Ulrich Klopfer admitted to the Indiana Medical Licensing Board that he once performed an abortion on a 10-year-old girl from Illinois who had been raped by her uncle.
Dr. Klopfer did not report the crime to law enforcement. He let the girl go home to her parents who knew about the rape and had decided not to prosecute.
As far as we can tell, that girls’ uncle was never brought to justice.
Abortion helps conceal evil crimes like these. That’s part of the reason Arkansas does not need to expand the list of exceptions in its pro-life laws.
