[dogbyte12]

Adoption is not ALWAYS a choice. You have no idea how severe this woman's seizures are. Or how much fluid needs to be constantly drained from her brain.

The stress of late term pregancy could kill this woman. You want to risk her life to make a point. You are wrong.

Selective cosmectic abortion is wrong, immoral, and should be illegal. That is not the case here. Forget the fact that this woman was raped. Those aren't even the issues here. This woman has severe health problems and could very conceivably die from delivering a child.

I am extremely offended at you for suggesting her mother isn't aching with agony at this decision. There are plenty of black and white cases for you to scream at, but don't you dare scream at her mother. It might make you feel smug to force this woman to give birth, but your smugness won't give this woman her daughter back if the worst happens.

Sorry for this long rant, but I am sick and freak and tired of the extremists on both ends. Those who believe abortion should be used as birth control, and equate it's moral signifigance as to a hangnail procedure, and those who think mentally retarded raped, physically at risk women should be forced to give birth are equal evils.

Pray for this mother, this daughter, and pray to God that this rapist is caught.

[Long Cut]

You're right.

[A-teamMom]

This is obviously an extreme case and we are not aware of the intricacies. But please know that pro-lifers do pray for everyone involved... the woman, her mother and her baby. It is sad that the baby has no choice or recourse either.

[YoungKentuckyConservative]

Well said.

[cgk]

You have no need to apologize for your "rant." I take no offense, and I welcome debate. Thank you for not calling me names; standard practice here lately at FR.

Her medications MAY cause deformities. Again, there are tests for these things. And the baby could be delivered by C-section in a matter of weeks. I've seen babies survive who were delivered that were younger and smaller than this. And - I am most certainly praying for this woman and her mother, and the pre-born baby. It's not a matter of smugness for me. It never has been. It's a matter of placing trust in God, and if medical assistance is needed to save BOTH lives - why can't it?

[AlbionGirl]

Those who believe abortion should be used as birth control, and equate it's moral signifigance as to a hangnail procedure, and those who think mentally retarded raped, physically at risk women should be forced to give birth are equal evils.

I understand the point you are trying to make, but I don't see them as equal evils. It is not certain that bringing this baby to term will kill the mother, while it is certain that aborting the baby will kill him or her, and the baby is not at fault for being conceived during an act of rape. They are not equal evils at all.

Although, I would defer to the grandmother's judgment in this because we never have nor will live in a perfectly just world, and this decision to abort doesn't seem to have been taken without serious consideration.

It is not unlike the rationale we used to assuage the guilt we felt at the killing of innocent Iraqi children in the service of a greater good.

[skr]

It would seem that a possible risk to a mentally retarded woman with serious health problems outweighs a definite and fatal solution for a currently normally developing baby. Nothing in the article indicates the woman is in particular danger right now, only that a late-term pregnancy might be dangerous. I'm not ignoring the problems, but why not wait and see if anything adverse actually starts before killing the child?

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

*"Pray for this mother, this daughter, and pray to God that this rapist is caught."*

And also for the soul of this innocent baby.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Pray for this mother, this daughter, and pray to God that this rapist is caught

Can we pray for the tissue mass that is expanding in her, too?

[Mfkmmof4]

But how is abortion safer?

[Old Professer]

Pray for this mother, this daughter, and pray to God that this rapist is caught.

If a prayer has been answered here it is the prayer of the dedicated baby-killers; this is that 1 in 50,000,000 case they have been supposing all these drear years since 1972 when this heinous business started, a pregnancy caused by rape to a mentally-deficient breeding age female with multiple complications caused by her underlying physical condition and a willing judge crass enough to stand and deny God face-to-face; yes, prayers are involved here but they involve a far darker side of Heaven than Hell could otherwise make clear to a now uncaring, sated public.

Bring on the clowns.

[hocndoc]

The woman will deliver.

That is a given and a fact of the situation that she is in. None of us forced any thing, the rapist did.

The only question now is whether she will give birth to a child who is purposely killed at or before birth or whether the child's right to life will be respected.

[dion]

Well said. I too get tired of extremists on both sides.

[Exit148]

To your #9 ----I never get involved in these discussions because of the extremism. I understand what you are saying and I'm with you.

[Under the Radar]

Excellent post.

[dsc]

"This woman has severe health problems and could very conceivably die from delivering a child."

Let me start by saying that I claim no slightest degree of heroism or courage for myself.

Nonetheless, if I were ever put to the test--if, for instance, some madman drew a gun and said, "Okay, it's either you or the kid here. Which one shall I shoot?" or if one of my kids needed a kidney or half my liver, and the doctor said my child would die without the operation and I might die from it...well, if I were put to that test and failed it, life just wouldn't be worth living. I wouldn't even have the nerve to ask God to forgive me for that.

You seem to be assuming that a mother, told "You *might* die if you don't kill your child," can answer, "Yes, kill the child," without transgressing against any moral principle.

I don't deny that this is a very thorny issue. One thinks of a panicked woman, in fear for her life, being told that she may not escape the danger.

But I have to ask, by what right do we take that child's life? We don't require people to donate kidneys to save people's lives, or even blood. Why do we require infants to donate their very lives to mitigate a *possible* danger to the mother's life?