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Monday, February 8, 2016
Children Conceived In Rape Take a Beating From Bush and Christie at GOP Debate, by Rebecca Kiessling
Children conceived in rape – like me – took a beating at
the GOP presidential debate in New Hampshire Sat. evening. Gov. Chris Christie and Gov. Jeb Bush had
some harsh words regarding the treatment of the innocent child conceived in
rape, and I think their rhetoric demonstrates that they're not really committed
to ending abortion, but merely doing the bare minimum to win votes from those who
identify as pro-life.
For starters, Gov. Christie said, “I believe that if a
woman has been raped, that is a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate.” What does he mean by “terminate?” It may come as a surprise to many of you, but
I voluntarily terminated three of my pregnancies. My daughters are doing quite well now, after
having labor induced. You see, you can
terminate a pregnancy and still have a live baby. Normal delivery of a baby is the termination
of a pregnancy. Inducing labor or
performing a C-section is the premature termination of a pregnancy. But that’s not what Christie is talking about,
is it? He’s talking about the
termination where you have a dead baby – because he or she is killed.
So what Gov. Christie is saying is that my birthmother – a woman who had been raped –
should have been able to kill me.
Ouch! That’s not pro-life, and it's not at all compassionate.
Then he went on to say, “The fact is that we have
always believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because
of it or been victims of incest and been impregnated for it.” Since he used the tactic of invoking
President Reagan, let’s take a look at what Reagan actually said:
Let us unite as a nation
and protect the unborn with legislation that would stop all Federal funding for
abortion and with a human life amendment making, of course, an exception where
the unborn child threatens the life of the mother. Our Judeo-Christian
tradition recognizes the right of taking a life in self-defense. But with that one exception, let us look to
those others in our land who cry out for children to adopt. I pledge to you tonight I will work to remove
barriers to adoption and extend full sharing in family life to millions of
Americans so that children who need homes can be welcomed to families who want
them and love them.
– Ronald Reagan, State of the Union address, January, 1988
– Ronald Reagan, State of the Union address, January, 1988
If you’re going to invoke Reagan to bolster your position, you’d
better be sure you got that right. But
in case mischaracterizing Reagan’s position wasn’t bad enough, Gov. Christie
outdid himself with his next statement: “I believe
that they do not have to deliver that child if they believe that is an act of self defense by terminating
that pregnancy.” “An act of
self-defense?!” This is the kind of
rhetoric you hear from abortion rights advocates – suggesting that the innocent
preborn child is somehow continuing to rape the woman, and therefore, she needs
to kill the baby to stop the rape. Gov.
Christie, since you recognize my right as a woman to engage in an act of self
defense, let me clear up your confusion:
I was NOT raping my birthmother!
I was not attacking her. I was innocent. I’m pleading my innocence! So here’s my advice to you – punish rapists,
not babies. It’s not a difficult
concept. This is my own act of self defense –
quit picking on innocent children like me by suggesting our lives weren’t worth
living or protecting, because I fight back and I will defend my life!
Since his remarks Saturday evening, I’ve been inundated
with suggestions from people that I need to talk to him and to share my story
with him – just like with Gov. Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich four years ago when
I changed their hearts during their presidential campaigns. Well, I DID share my story with Chris
Christie, at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida in August,
2012. But he’s a different character and
hard-hearted. Like in the Parable of the
Sower, in Matthew Chapter 13, the seeds did not fall on fertile soil. But then Jesus explained:
This is why I speak to them in
parables:
“Though seeing, they
do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.”
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.”
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of
Isaiah:
“You will be ever
hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.”
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.”
As if the shots from Chris Christie weren’t enough to dehumanize
and demoralize my people group, Gov. Jeb Bush had insults of his own: “I am pro-life but I believe there should be exceptions —
rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger.” Any time a politician starts off with “I am
pro-life but,” you know he’s not committed to ending abortion. He may do the bare minimum to get pro-life
voters to think he’s pro-life, but he’s not someone who is reliable to end
legalized abortion, he’s not dependable to appoint Supreme Court Justices who
will overturn Roe v Wade, and he’s clearly willing to discriminate and to leave
the door open for all abortions through gaping loopholes.
Then Gov. Bush issued the most telling remark – “That belief
and my consistency on this makes me,
I think, poised to be in the right place — the
sweet spot — for Republican nominee.”
OUCH!!! Okay, please keep in mind
that I’m biting my tongue as I respond to his “sweet spot” remarks. I
looked up the definition of “sweet spot,” just so everyone understands how callous
his words were, and the first definition to come up is sexual in nature -- “a
spot on the body that responds pleasurably to a caress or touch,” and then
there’s the sports reference – “the area from which the cleanest shots are
made.” Whether Jeb Bush is climaxing at
the thought of denying a child conceived in rape her right to life in order to
gain him victory as the GOP nominee, or if it’s that he finds the rape victim’s
child to be the perfect whipping boy for taking shots at, his remarks are
offensive, dehumanizing and demoralizing.
Lastly, Bush said, “Others may have a different view and I
respect it.” This isn’t about respecting
mere political views -- this is about respecting not just my “view,” but my
life! I deserve to be alive, I was
worthy of the protection I received pre-Roe v Wade, and others just like me
deserve the same opportunity to be born.
If you call yourself pro-life, if you say you believe that
the pre-born are persons and therefore, have a right to life under the 14th
Amendment due process clause, then you cannot be willing to violate the second
part of the 14th Amendment – the equal protection clause, which says
that “No state shall deny a person equal protection of the laws.” To do so is not only hypocritical, it’s
unconstitutional. And that’s precisely
what Chris Christie and Jeb Bush are proposing – to deny persons equal
protection under the law.
Recently, Sen. Lindsey Graham has made hurtful remarks
calling children like me “the child of the rapist.” I am sure he has no idea how offensive that
is to the majority of rape survivors who not only choose life, but choose to
raise their children. After everything
she’s been through and had to overcome, he has the audacity to suggest that her
child is the rapist’s child. We don’t
call President Obama “the polygamist’s child,” so stop trying to demonize us in
such a manner. Give us our dignity and call
us who we are – a rape victim’s child, a child of God, a person with a right to
life.
Right now, the only two GOP presidential candidates who
support overturning Roe v Wade and who refuse to discriminate against the child
conceived in rape are Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Marco Rubio. I’ve met Sen. Rubio in person, and would love
to meet Sen. Cruz some day. But I’m also
willing to meet with any other candidates, and I do hope that by putting a face,
a voice, and a real-life story to the issue, their hearts and minds would be
changed so that they’d no longer support the killing of innocent children. There are over 300 of us through Save The 1 who were conceived in rape,
mothers from rape, birthmothers from rape and post-abortive after rape. We are thankful for the gift of life, we
deserve our dignity, the mothers love their children, and we want our voices to be heard.
BIO: Rebecca Kiessling is a wife, mother of 5, attorney and international
pro-life speaker and blogger. She shares her
story of having been conceived in
rape and nearly aborted at two back alley abortions, but legally protected.
She’s the founder and President of Save The 1, co-founder of Hope After Rape
Conception, and co-founder of Embryo Defense.
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1 comments:
Thank you, Rebecca.
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