Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Only in the Case of Rape

I was thinking today about the American Taliban often talks of abortion in only in the case of rape. This got me thinking rape trials usually seem to take a long time, I'd be willing to bet that they often don't even start until long after the 14 weeks where you have several options open to you. So I'd like to know more about how "in the case of rape" works.
You are a woman you got raped and to make matters worse you are now pregnant. Do you have to wait, until the trial has been completed before you are allowed to terminate the pregnancy, because the guy is innocent until proven guilty? There are four paths.

One you have wait until the trial is over
If the trial takes 16 months, I'm pretty sure that you don't have the right to terminate a 5 month old, so the option was never really open to you.
or
If you are lucky the trial finishes really quickly and you can have your abortion.

Two you have the abortion before or during the trial
If the guy is found guilty all is pretty clear.
but
What happens if the guy gets off on a technicality or has a really good lawyer and the charge doesn't stick? You've already had the abortion, are you now guilty of breaking the law? Does the clinic that performed it have to worry?

I just want the people who feel that "well there is a rape clause" to think about what that really means.
Also to make the math simple I didn't factor in that you usually can't tell you are pregnant for at least a few weeks, which makes the time line tighter.

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