What if the baby is the result of incest?

Why should anyone’s rights depend on the circumstances of their conception?

The unborn child conceived through incest is in a similar position to the child conceived through rape. The child is a human being who, like ourselves, was not able to determine the circumstances of its existence.

No-one really knows how many pregnancies occur from incest. It is likely to be less common than from a normal sexual relationship because the victim is usually younger and the trauma may cause ovulation (and menstruation) to stop.

Incest is a very complex family problem. It is possible that the victim’s pregnancy gives her the first real chance of overcoming the family’s denial of the situation and of escaping from it. In such cases, abortion not only adds to the girl’s guilt and trauma, it also frustrates her plans for escape and attention.

Incest victims do not always want an abortion. In Dr George Maloof’s study in the USA, a large proportion of incest victims wanted to keep their babies; when they did abort it was usually because of pressure from the impregnating relative (usually the victim’s father or stepfather), who was seeking to cover up his crime. As with rape, it can be the prejudice of those around the victim that makes the pregnancy difficult, as much as the pregnancy itself.

Did you know that…

• Every year in South Australia over 5600 unborn children are violently killed by abortion?
  

• 98% of abortions are carried out on healthy children carried by healthy mothers, who are not the result of rape or incest?

Subjecting an already traumatised and violated woman to the very real possibility of suffering from these adverse effects would be doing her a grave injustice. Counselling, warmth and understanding are the support mechanisms that will give her something to lean on, especially so if she bears a child from the incident.