Shattered said:What if your daughter didn't *want* to have a baby at the age of 15? If she carried it, who would raise it? You? Her? Would you give it up for adoption? To who? Would you tell him/her they were conceived via force? What if, against your will, she had an abortion anyway? In some back alley? I'm also curious to know how you can say with any certainty that if you were raped you would carry the baby to term...
We're not talking about an abortion a month down the road here - we're talking about stopping a possible pregnancy from becoming a reality as a result of an bad, uncontrollable situation.
If it could be proven beyond a doubt that an egg had not been fertilized at that time, then, sure, prevent it, definitely. If it was a fifteen-year-old, she would not have the maturity to care for a baby, and I would most likely either raise it myself or seek adoption. But, even if my daughter didn't want the pregnancy, I would not expose her to the emotional and physical scars and risks of abortion. I would hope I have an open/trusting enough relationship with my daughters that she would not do this behind my back. I believe we could work through it together for the better. I do not say this lightly. As I mentioned before, I have secondhand experience of rape, and I would rather have had first-hand, so helpless and impotent do you feel to watch a loved one deal with it.
How do I know what I would do? "I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned byman. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad--as I am now. Laws and principles are not for times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth---so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane--quite insane; with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot." A quote from my favorite book of all time Jane Eyre. One must make up her mind beforehand what her beliefs are. In times of high emotions, she should rule herself by these convictions rather than be tossed about by her emotions, incapable of determining how far logic is influenced by her feelings.