Quote:
Originally posted by ltl/fb
The "intuitive is crap" part is dismissable, but do please explain how the rape exception would work.
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I think of the rape exception as one that is based on both the mother and the child's interest. In regard to the mother, it would be far more of a distressing fate to have to carry the child of your rapist than it would to have to carry the child of someone with whom you had sex voluntarily. I think everyone would agree on that one.
In regard to the child, it is a very traumatic thing for a child to learn that he was conceived because his father raped his mother. I have a friend who was adopted and decided to find out who her biological parents were after her adoptive parents died. She found out she was concieved by a rape and she has been in psychological counseling and on anti-depressants ever since. It profoundly negatively affected her and she wishes now that she had remained ignorant of who her biological parents were.
If we are weighing the rights of an unborn life against the mother's right to control her own body, the psychological damage done to both the mother and child make the rape exception far more morally defensible than abortion after voluntary sexual activity that leads to a pregnancy.
As for implementing it, this could be implemented very easily. You would go before a judge and give sworn testimony that would remain sealed. If there was no reason to doubt your testimony, the judge would have no reason not to allow it. It would be an ex parte proceeding and reviewable de novo before an appellate court.
