If you’ve ever been in a debate over abortion, you know where the land-mine questions are buried.

The first one is, “You have no right to tell me what I can do with my own body.” The most accurate and simplest answer is,

Of course, I don’t have any right to tell you what you can do with your own body. If you want to cut off an arm, tattoo 666 on your forehead, paint your skin green, go at it. I might try to persuade you not to do these things, but in the final analysis, the choice is yours. It’s your body. If people see you cutting off pieces of your body, they might begin to question your sanity. But it’s not a crime to be insane.

The above response doesn’t complete the argument. An unborn baby is not part of a woman’s body. He or she is a separate biological entity with different DNA encased in an amniotic sac that serves as a temporary “sanctuary city.” At no time is the unborn baby touching any part of his/her mother. In some cases, a baby’s blood is a different type from the mother’s. An unborn baby is not like a diseased appendix or lung. What is conceived and born is another human being.

Then there’s the “I’m personally opposed argument.” I always ask, “Why are you personally opposed to abortion? What is it about abortion that you think is wrong that you would be personally opposed?” It’s at this point the stuttering begins. “What would you say to someone who said that he was personally opposed to slavery but continued to uphold the right of people to enslave other people?” In a Newsweek cover story on abortion, Kurt Eichenwald wrote, “I am opposed to abortion. I believe women have the right to choose. This is not a contradiction.” Yes, it is.

Now we come to the hard or challenging cases. People opposed to abortion are always asked what they believe if a woman gets pregnant as the result of rape. Shouldn’t rape be an exception? Former Pres. Jimmy Carter says Jesus would support abortion for rape:

Mr. Carter said that abortion has always been a struggle for him, because he does not believe Jesus would be in favor of most abortions.

“I have had a problem with abortion. This has been a long-time problem of mine,” he said.

“I have a hard time believing that Jesus would approve abortions unless it was because of rape or incest or if the mother’s life was in danger. So I’ve had that struggle,” he said. (Breitbart)

The rape issue was in the news some years ago when Todd Akin, who was running for the Senate in Missouri, was asked about abortion and rape. He stumbled with his answer.

Let’s be clear. As the late Dr. John Wilkie wrote, “There is probably no greater emotional trauma that can be experienced by a woman than an assault rape.” Rape is horrible. It’s not about sex; it’s about power, domination, installation of fear, and violence. It’s meant to demean and control a woman.

In war, rape is often used “as a means of psychological warfare in order to humiliate the enemy.” As George W. Bush’s former aide Karen Hughes told Politico, “If another Republican man says anything about rape other than it is a horrific, violent crime, I want to personally cut out his tongue.”

I agree.

Here’s how I would answer the “rape as an exception” question:

How many women who are raped get pregnant? Let’s say it’s 1000 per year.1 In order to protect rape as an exception, pro-abortionists want a law that permits any woman to kill her unborn baby for any reason, a procedure that takes place more than one million times in the United States. This hardly seems right.

The rapist is the criminal, so why is the unborn baby punished? Further, why should a million unborn babies be sacrificed to make killing unborn babies available for women who get pregnant because of rape?

I then ask a pro-abortionist this question:

Would you be willing to outlaw abortion if there was an exception clause for rape?

A die-hard abortionist would say no because abortion is a liberal sacrament. They thank their version of god for legalized abortion. “Netflix aired a ‘Salute to Abortion,’ hosted by ‘comedian’ Michelle Wolf, who closed the segment with a star-spangled, flag-waving, drum corps declaration: ‘God bless abortion!’” (CNS News) The actual celebration of killing unborn babies! This shows that the rape exception is a smokescreen.

The same reasoning can be used for the “life of the mother” exception argument. Very few women die from complications directly related to a pregnancy. I’m not saying that women don’t die, but it’s extremely rare.

Every effort should be taken to save the life of the mother and child. If two people are in an automobile accident, the EMT doesn’t kill one to save the other. The medical technician works to save both.

Let’s take the high side that “every day two to three women die in the United States from pregnancy-related complications.” That’s about 1000 out of more than a million abortions.

Once again, pro-abortionists push for legalizing abortion for every woman to accommodate abortion for less than a few thousand cases. Most pro-abortionists support abortion with no regard for other women or the unborn babies they are killing.

A rapist should be punished to the full extent of the law. I prefer the death penalty. This would cut down on false rape accusations.

But in our upside-down system of justice, the unborn baby, who is not guilty of anything, is the one who’s executed. It makes no sense.

Here’s a heartwarming story about Valerie Gatto who was crowned Miss Pennsylvania in 2014:

When the newly crowned Miss Pennsylvania, Valerie Gatto, was in third grade, she found out the difficult truth that she had been conceived when her mother was raped at knifepoint.

Gatto’s mother was only 19 years old when the attack occurred. Her assailant had plans to murder her as well, but says those plans were thwarted when a bright light from an unknown source appeared. This light gave Gatto’s mother the ability to get up and run away before he could do further harm to her. Gatto says, “I like to think of that light as my mother’s and (my) guardian angel.”

In a recent interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Gatto says her mother always told her, “I was her light.”

Soon after the attack, Gatto’s mother discovered she was pregnant. According to an interview with Gatto for CBS Pittsburgh, her mother never considered abortion.

She did have plans to put her daughter up for adoption, hoping she could be given a more stable life elsewhere. But, after Gatto was born, her grandmother reminded her daughter that God does not give us more than we can handle. She convinced Gatto’s mother to raise her little girl herself.

Actress, author, and singer Ethel Waters, also from Pennsylvania, was the child of a teenage rape victim. There are more stories here. As Philip Hodges writes, “Rape is a horrible violent crime that has two victims. Neither the mother nor the conceived child is guilty of anything.”

For more about Valerie Gatto’s story, go to LifeSiteNews.

1. The statistics of the number of pregnancies from rape vary – from a high of 25,000 per year to around 1000. See John Willke’s article “Looking at the Hard Cases.” Willke put the number at around 100. [↩]