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This Just In...
Kevin Fischer is an award-winning veteran broadcaster who has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for nearly three decades.
Kevin, who is a legislative aide to state Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, “InterCHANGE,” on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10, and heard filling in on Newstalk 1130 WISN. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their baby daughter, Kyla Audrey, in Franklin.
Rape/incest victims who refuse abortions
By Kevin Fischer
Sunday, Aug 24 2008, 08:57 AM
Many opponents of abortion will support the procedure when a woman is a victim of rape or incest, believing it is the only sensitive, sympathetic and appropriate solution. But the assault victims say no one has bothered to ask them how they feel.
Only a few studies have been done on the subject and I admit my surprise to learn that many women who’ve been assaulted choose to go through with their pregnancies. Most that did are glad they had their babies. Most who had abortions regretted their decisions.
I spoke about this topic that I have never heard brought up on radio while filling in for Mark Belling Friday on WISN. If you missed the program, you can hear the podcast that will be available until 6:00 pm Monday night. The discussion is in Hour One.
The key point is that the women were violated once and didn’t want to go through another traumatic event. Women who did have abortions felt the trauma was as bad as or even worse than the assault itself.
I admire women who forego abortions after being victimized, but I personally could not and would not criticize them for choosing to abort in such cases.
A group has been formed to lobby Congress and state legislatures around the country to hold hearings on this rarely discussed issue. Here’s their petition:
Petition to Congress and State Legislators
from the Ad Hoc Committee of Women Pregnant by Sexual Assault (WPSA)
We, the undersigned, having each experienced a pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, hereby petition the U.S. Congress and individual state legislatures to hold public hearings at which we and other women who have become pregnant from sexual assault will be invited to discuss our unique needs and concerns. The reasons for such hearings are set out below.
Every year, legislators, judges, and other policy makers discuss the problems of women who have become pregnant as a result of sexual assault. These discussions take place without ever first soliciting our input. In most cases, it is only in the context of highly divisive debates over abortion that we are discussed. In virtually every case, those 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.
We are deeply offended and dismayed each time our difficult circumstances are exploited for public consumption to promote the political agenda of others. This is a grave injustice. In pursuingtheir political agendas, these exploiters have reduced our concerns, needs, and circumstances to a crude caricature.
Those who claim to represent our interests have never sought our authorization to represent us. They do not know us, understand us, or truly care about us. Just as we were once used, without our consent, to gratify the sexual desires of others, so we continue to be used, without our consent, to gratify the political goals of others.
Only we who have actually experienced a sexual assault pregnancy truly understand the trauma, fears, concerns, and needs of our sisters who are, or will someday become, pregnant as a resultof rape or incest.
Each year, thousands of women will face this experience. Unless society at large begins to listen to us today, these other women will, like us, face great difficulty in finding authentic understanding and help.
The issue of sexual assault pregnancies is both delicate and complicated. Even women who have been sexually assaulted but did not become pregnant can only speak in terms of their own fears rather than their actual experience. Only women who were or are pregnant by sexual assault can knowledgeably testify about this experience.
Our experiences are varied. Many of us carried our pregnancies to term. Some of us raised or are raising our children, while others placed our children in adoptive homes. Others of us hadabortions. In many cases, we felt pressured to abort by family members, social workers, and doctors who insisted that abortion was the “best” solution. For many the abortion caused physicaland emotional trauma equal to or exceeding the trauma of the sexual assault that our abortions were supposed to “cure.”
We are the only ones who can bear witness to our real experiences and our real needs. How long will you refuse to listen to us?
Here are more details on this issue.
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