After sexual assault:
Abortion leads to further trauma

		Making Sense  Out of Bioethics  Fr. Tad  Pacholczyk

I recall once hearing a story about a philosopher who visited with a group of junior-high students at a private school in the Midwest. He had a discussion with them about ethics and offered a few arguments to suggest that direct abortion was always unethical and unjust.

A 14-year-old girl put up her hand and asked him if he would make an exception for rape in his position against abortion. He put the ball back into her court by asking her to carry out a kind of "thought experiment."

Hypothetical case

He asked her to consider the hypothetical case that her own father became a rapist: "If your dad goes out and rapes somebody, and we convict him of that rape in a court of law, do you think it would be right for us to then say, 'okay, because your dad is guilty of that rape, we're going to kill you, his 14-year-old daughter?'"

The girl and her classmates unanimously replied, "No." He pursued the same line of logic a bit further, asking if it would be acceptable if, instead of 14 years old, she were only two years old or two months old. Again, they said, "No."

Finally, he asked, "So how could I say that I'm going to let abortion happen because of rape? If I permit abortion because of rape, I am killing a child in the womb for a crime committed by his or her dad. Is that right?"

His coherent and dispassionate approach helped the students appreciate the need to scrutinize their own assumptions and move beyond emotionalism when important ethical or bioethical issues are being debated.

Women deserve better

Rape is always a grave and unconscionable crime, a tragedy of enormous proportions. If a woman becomes pregnant following sexual assault, abortion is sometimes offered as a path to fixing the rape.

But the decision to encourage a second trauma after the first trauma of sexual assault represents, ultimately, a misguided response to a situation that needs to be handled with much greater sensitivity and compassion.

A kind of unexamined emotionalism and anger can arise in these situations, directed towards the child, even though the child conceived in rape is an innocent bystander, and a victim of the same awful set of circumstances as the mother.

He or she clearly ought not be treated as some kind of surrogate for the rapist. The real malefactor and culprit is always the rapist and never the child. The perpetrator of the crime needs to be apprehended and punished to the full extent of the law, and insofar as sentencing for such crimes may be too lenient in certain regions or locales, our legal system must vigorously work to correct it.

Women who have suffered the indignity of rape deserve better, and trauma ought not be layered with even more trauma. Our first obligation is to reach out in love and acceptance to the woman who has been victimized, and when a child is conceived, she and her child need our loving assistance all the more.

Sometimes in certain bioethical situations, an apparently compassionate response may be offered which is, in fact, profoundly unethical. In tragic situations like sexual assault, it can be difficult to perceive the right lines, and to think with reason rather than emotions.

'Not a good solution'

Oftentimes we may be tempted to imagine that a child conceived by rape would only serve as a reminder to the mother of the original traumatic event she had suffered, and that she would be "better off" without that reminder. Interestingly, however, in a study published in March of 2000, that conclusion was found to be invalid. David C. Reardon, Julie Makimaa, and Amy Sobie sifted through nine years worth of testimonies gathered by the Elliot Institute and Fortress International to get a true picture of the effects of abortion on a woman who had suffered from the trauma of rape.

They wrote a book that debunks the argument that abortion is necessary or helpful after sexual assault. Co-author Amy Sobie has summarized it this way: "The vast majority of the women (and their children) who responded advanced the view that abortion is NOT a good solution to sexual assault pregnancies and that it often leads to further physical and emotional trauma for the women. Conversely, none of the women who carried to term expressed regret that they had chosen to give birth or a wish that they had chosen abortion instead."

Never justifiable

In the final analysis, rape is unable to ever justify abortion, even though in every one of the more than 55 countries that now have abortion on demand, the initial step taken was intense lobbying for the availability of abortion in so-called "hard cases" - especially rape and incest.

Of all abortions performed, 99.96 percent occur for reasons unrelated to rape, so the very rare exception has been carefully employed to provide cover for all other cases.

Playing the emotional card has been largely successful in the public arena, reminding us of the urgent need for a more level headed and dispassionate discussion of the real goods that are at stake. As former abortionist Dr. Bernard Nathanson once put it, "If a part of a human community were not at stake, no woman should be required to undergo the degradation of bearing a child in these circumstances, but even degradation, shame, and emotional disruption are not the moral equivalent of life. Only life is."

By respecting the life of the vulnerable and innocent child, we steer clear of the grave error in reasoning that tries to suggest that evil can justify further evil. True compassion invites us to suffer with, to be present to, and to aid the victims of sexual assault, by offering them our unconditional love, acceptance, and support, rather than short-circuiting the situation in favor of easy and inauthentic "solutions."

Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Mass., and serves as the director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, Pa.

Ready for a new springtime?
Try 'lectio divina' during Lent

		The Evangelical  Catholic  Michael A.  Havercamp

Pope Benedict XVI is convinced that a new "spiritual springtime" is within our reach - a renewal of faith, a flourishing of charity, and a dawning of new hope in Jesus Christ.

It is fitting in this season of Lent that we speak of just such an awakening of new life, not only because we long for respite from the snowy chill of the Wisconsin winter, but because it grasps the heart of what this season of the Church year is all about.

Bishop Robert C. Morlino aptly reminded us recently that the term "lent" stems from the Old English word meaning "springtime." Lent is an intentional period of personal and communal revitalization, a renewed commitment to spiritual growth and apostolic action, and a preparation for the ultimate celebration of Christ's glorious resurrection from the dead.

'Spiritual springtime'

So what is it that may prompt such a burgeoning of new life in the Church? Our Holy Father suggests reading. No, he is not talking about a heightened concentration on the sports page or a more adroit read of John Grisham's latest legal thriller.

A man of deep prayer and penetrating intellect, our Supreme Pontiff directs us to a more sacred study, a prayerful examination of "the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit" (Dei Verbum, 9). Of course, he is pointing us to the Sacred Scriptures, the divine word of God, and more specifically to an ancient practice of Scripture meditation called lectio divina.

"I would like in particular to recall and recommend the ancient tradition of 'Lectio divina' . . . If it is effectively promoted, this practice will bring to the Church - I am convinced of it - a new spiritual springtime." - Pope Benedict XVI, September 16, 2005 address.

The council fathers remind us in The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, that "the church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as it has venerated the Body of the Lord" (DV, 21). This solemn pronouncement of the Second Vatican Council "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful . . . to learn 'the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ' by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures" (DV, 25). For this gathering of the universal college of bishops, as it was for St. Jerome, "ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ."

'Holy reading'

So what is lectio divina, and how can it contribute to this new springtime of spiritual life in the Church? Lectio divina is Latin for divine reading, spiritual reading, or "holy reading," and represents a method of prayer and scriptural reading intended to promote communion with God and to provide special spiritual insights.

It is a way of praying with Scripture that calls one to study, ponder, listen, and, finally, pray from God's Word. Although there are many varied forms and methods of lectio divina, a simple and accessible practice might be helpful for the beginner during Lent (for a more detailed exposition of lectio divina, look at Michael Casey's Sacred Reading or M. Basil Pennington's Lectio Divina).

Select a passage from the Bible, perhaps from the daily readings, a psalm, a gospel, an epistle, etc.

Before reading, pray that the Holy Spirit might be present in your reading of Scripture, speaking to you in the sacred books and guiding your time of meditation.

Read the passage, chapter, verse, or even the entire book. Read slowly, allowing your mind and spirit to be attentive to any word or phrase that speaks to you in particular.

Read the passage a second time, slowly and prayerfully, paying even closer attention to that initial word or phrase that drew your attention. Ask yourself, "What is the Lord saying to me in this passage?" Meditate on that question, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you in prayer.

Read the passage a third and final time, again taking special note of that word or phrase. Ask yourself, "What does the Lord want me to do?" Meditate on that question and allow God to speak to you and guide you into loving action.

'Anyone can do it'

It is simply amazing how clearly God can speak to us in the sacred books! Simple yet powerful, this practice of divine reading can open for all of us a deepened knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love he has for us, and the freedom we find only in him.

Anyone can do it. The Church encourages everyone to do it. Our Holy Father suggests that you do it. So what are you waiting for? Initiate a new springtime in your spiritual life through lectio divina.

Michael Havercamp is the associate director of the Evangelical Catholic.