UNBORN JUSTICE, a Christian pro-life organisation, has stated, through its founder Kamille Martindale during a recent church service, that women who become pregnant after being raped should carry the pregnancy to full term, as it pushes its mandate to stamp out all abortions in Barbados.
What a statement!
I strongly suggest that this very well-meaning young woman and her group have meaningful and objective conversations with women and girls who have been raped, and as a result became pregnant, before seeking to rub salt in the physical, psychological and emotional wounds criminally inflicted on them by both the traumatic rape experience and the unwanted pregnancy.
Unwanted pregnancy drives abortion and this fact should inform the advocacy of this new pro-life group. The prevention of unwanted pregnancy will certainly wipe out the demand for abortion, and this is a far more realistic proposition for Unborn Justice than the one being espoused.
Ms Martindale deserves credit for having the courage to advocate for what she sincerely believes, even if it is extravagantly simplistic and puts the unwieldy cart before the submissive horse.
There is an existing protocol which provides for emergency contraception and HIV and sexually-transmitted infection prevention treatment to be made available to persons who have been raped as soon as possible after the unfortunate event. At this stage there is no pregnancy or unborn child.
It is to be expected, however, that some women/girls can be so traumatised that seeking medical intervention is not pursued in a timely manner, hence the possible unintended pregnancy and/or full-blown sexually-transmitted infection.
The right to self-determination by women should never be trifled with or trampled upon. It is very sad indeed that a group of idealistic young women should be inadvertently seeking to do so in this 21st century world where women’s rights should be seen as sacred.
Hopefully, as they mature and grasp a better understanding of the real world, they would come to the understanding that we live in a complex world where issues cannot be seen only in black or white, but the many other shades in between must not be ignored.
Our women and girls are not dumb, driven cattle who cannot think or make decisions for themselves and should therefore be credited with the right and competence so to do.
