Rape is a horrible crime. It’s a violation of everything a woman is. People who have had their house robbed often describe it as a rape. Strangers enter your most private place and steal your most valued possessions with indifference and leave you to rebuild years of memories.

Rape, of course, is much worse. It’s a crime against a woman’s freedom and dignity. It’s not about sex; it’s about control, power, and violence.

In times of war, rape has been used “as a means of psychological warfare in order to humiliate the enemy.” Rape of men during war is also common, but not often reported. War itself is a form of rape. It’s the worst type of violation against life and property.

Unfortunately, a number of conservatives have not done well when defending the pro-life, anti-abortion cause when it comes to questions about rape. 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.

One of the arguments that liberals use in the abortion debate is to allow for abortion if a rape victim gets pregnant. It’s an understandable reaction. Who wants to raise a rapist’s child?

But with 1.3 million abortions each year, very few of them are performed because of rape. Allowing for an exception for rape does not justify allowing a woman to kill her unborn child for any reason. It’s like cutting off an arm to remove a mole that might be cancerous.

One of the reasons the majority of people in the prolife movement are against the rape exception is because the baby is not the guilty party. It’s not the baby’s fault that his or her mother was raped.

Every so often we hear stories of how babies conceived by rape are born and turn out to have wonderful lives. Consider Auburn University’s new homecoming queen:

“A 22-year-old woman whose life was spared with the help of a Christian adoption agency after her biological mother was raped has been voted Auburn University’s 100th homecoming queen and she is now using her inspiring story to encourage people to adopt.

“The young woman, Molly Anne Dutton, was elected homecoming queen by the nation’s most conservative student body over the weekend after running on a platform advocating adoption, according to a Yellowhammer News report.

“Dutton shared the inspiring story of her biological mother who became pregnant after she was raped while living with her husband in California. Her mother’s husband threatened to divorce her if she didn’t abort Molly but the brave woman chose a different path.

“She chose to get help from Birmingham-based Christian adoption agency Lifeline Children’s Services and gave birth to Molly and put her up for adoption.”

As horrible as rape is, it does not have to be a life-ending act.