Joy Stockbauer: Every preborn child, even conceived in a crime, has a right to life

"When a woman suffers sexual assault or rape — and especially, becomes pregnant in those situations — a woman is looking for justice. The abortion industry can so easily tell women to believe that justice in their circumstances would be having an abortion, and in fact, that having an abortion is the only just option," said Joy Stockbauer, policy analyst at the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council.

"When in reality, it's super important to speak the truth to women in this circumstance — and to anyone who cares about women in this circumstance — that the unborn child conceived by rape or incest had nothing to do with the circumstances of their conception. That child is in no way to blame for the acts of their father. To believe that an abortion is the right option in this circumstance is to say that that child deserves to die for something that they didn't do — for something that someone else did. And so, it misplaces justice."

Stockbauer went on to say that "justice in cases of rape or incest is absolutely necessary. And pro-lifers need to be the first people to say that — to advocate for justice. But justice looks like punishing the wrongdoer, not punishing an innocent party."

Family Research Council has a webpage, titled "Difficult Conversations about Abortion," that includes links to PDF background papers on Rape and Incest, on Prenatal Diagnosis and on Ectopic Pregnancy.

Follow Stockbauer @joystockbauer on Twitter and follow Family Research Council @FRCdc.