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Rape & Incest Victims Call for Congressional Hearings on Abortion

Say women who become pregnant from sexual assault don't want or need abortions

SPRINGFIELD, IL, June 24, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A group of women who have experienced pregnancies resulting from rape or incest are petitioning Congress and state legislatures to hear their stories, saying women who become pregnant from sexual assault don't want or need abortions. The petition comes on the heels of a Defense Department appropriations amendment by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) that would authorize federal funding of abortions for military personnel who become pregnant from sexual assault.

The petition from the Ad Hoc Committee of Women Pregnant by Sexual Assault (WPSA) asks federal and state legislators to "hold public hearings at which we and other women who have become pregnant through sexual assault will be invited to discuss our unique needs and concerns."

WPSA was formed after the publication of "Victims and Victors: Speaking Out About Their Pregnancies, Abortions and Children Resulting from Sexual Assault," a book of personal testimonies collected from women who have experienced a sexual assault pregnancy. The group says that pregnant sexual assault victims have been either ignored or misrepresented by politicians and the media because of the polarizing effects of the national abortion debate.

"In most cases, it is only in the context of highly divisive debates over abortion that we are discussed," the petition reads. "In virtually every case, the people who claim to be defending our interests have never taken the time to actually listen to us to learn about our true circumstances, needs, and concerns."

Kathleen DeZeeuw, who became pregnant after being raped as a teen and gave birth to a son, Patrick, wrote in Victims and Victors that she feels "personally assaulted and insulted every time I hear that abortion should be legal because of rape and incest. I feel that we're being used to further the abortion issue, even though we've not been asked to tell our side of the story."

WPSA members say that because women who have actually been pregnant following sexual assault have never been given a forum to describe their real experiences, public policies fail to offer pregnant sexual assault victims the care and support they need. Instead, public funding for abortions following rape or incest may give women, their family members, and health care providers the false impression that abortion is proven to be helpful in these circumstances.

Nearly 200 women submitted letters or testimonies for Victims and Victors, making it the largest sample of information ever collected from women who have experienced a sexual assault pregnancy. In an analysis of the submissions included in the book, 88 percent of those who had abortions said they regretted their abortions and that abortion only compounded the trauma of the sexual assault Only one woman reported no regrets, while the remainder of the women either made no statements regarding their abortions or were uncertain if their lives would have been better or worse than if they had not had abortions. By contrast, none of the women who carried to term said they subsequently regretted their decisions to give birth.

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