Debate ‘simplifying’ rape pregnancy cases

Rape crisis groups have hit out at comments made in the abortion debate which they say simplify and generalise associations between pregnancy through rape and abortion.

Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI) said 90 girls and women approached their services in 2011 who had become pregnant as a result of rape and that 17 of these had terminated their pregnancies.

In addition, two survivors became pregnant more than once as a result of rape and had different outcomes in each pregnancy.

Fiona Neary, RCNI executive director said: “In the abortion debate there has been some talk about the case of women who have been raped and are pregnant as a result. It is important this discussion is informed by the best available facts and a compassionate understanding of the realities facing these girls and women.”

A number of senators at the Oireachtas abortion hearing yesterday raised the issue of pregnancy as a result of rape and the argument in favour of abortion services.

However, a spokeswoman for the RCNI said their concerns were based on comments generally — including in the media — in recent weeks and that these “generalised and simplified” comments had come from “both sides”.

In a statement yesterday, Ms Neary said the numbers they were releasing did not explain “how, why and under what circumstances those outcomes came about”.

“They do not tell us about a survivor’s circumstances, age, resources, access to information and support or their relationship to the rapist,” she said.

“When drawing on the example of rape survivors an assumption can sometimes be made that the decisions are somehow simplified, feelings are straightforward, and that moral and ethical complexities are largely nullified by the fact of conception through rape. This is not the rape crisis experience.”

She said: “For many women and teenagers pregnancy resulting from rape can cause additional trauma and certainly complexities; these demand our greatest compassion. RCNI would urge commentators to remember this when they reach for the example of rape victims in the abortion debate.”