Children don't ask to be born, they are innocent. I think if I carried the pregnancy I would have loved the child. There are too many unknowns to ever know for sure. I never faced that situation and never will, so I don't know. I do know that for the woman in that situation I'd support what ever her decision was/is. It is a heart breaking situation.

It would seem that in cases of rape, if the person elects to go ahead with the pregnancy, adoption would be the best option. Not a day would go by that your own child wouldn't be a reminder of what some monster did to you. I'm sure it would be very difficult to get past that, and the child does not deserve to have that weight placed upon their shoulders.

The child cannot be blamed for the circumstances that brought it. The question is more a measure of rest of us than it is of the child.

Abortion is the most ethical option.

The child is an innocent party in the situation. They didn't ask to be a product of rape. If you can't separate the action from the child either a) have an abortion or b) give the child up for adoption.

Why would anyone ever punish a child by not showing them love? It is far from the kid's fault and to hold a ridiculous idea that they caused some harm. In my mind would be unsatisfactory to blame a kid for a crime committed by a (with lack of a better word) lunatic.

Never been there so I haven't got much to say, except that if you can love a kitten, puppy, foal, etc. you should be able to love any baby. As far as s/he being a constant reminder of the rape - tough to know how anyone would deal with that. If you're the mother, I guess you would have to get around to the mindset that it's yours and you're lucky to have it despite the circumstances of its conception. Might be easier said than done. I would add that I'm only talking about a situation where it's too late for the morning after pill or an abortion. That decision is totally up to the woman and if it was up to me, I'd go with the pill.

Of course. My oldest daughter got slipped a micky and had sex at 16. That grandson turned out to be a really cool son.

No woman should ever be made to carry such a thing to term....and no woman should ever be guilted for not carrying it to term and "loving" it.

This posts reeks of shaming women for choosing to abort lumps of cells that result from a traumatic event.

I have never been in that kind of situation.
This innocent baby is not it's fault, it did not ask to be here. I know someone that was in that situation.
I was with her throughout her pregnancy. She had chosen to give her little girl up for adoption.
Once she held her she was in love. She kept her, she could not bring herself to hate her baby.
Kimberly is 21 and in college.

No, I wouldn't love a child conceived through a rape and would terminate the pregnancy immediately.

Everyone is different. The children born to the Nazi lebensborn programme in Norway were hated by the Norwegians. Humans beings don't always behave nicely.

If this woman was raped, why did she not get an abortion? I hate to think about this innocent child suffering.

The child didn't ask to be born, they are innocent, and they are part of you, nurtured in your womb, borne of your suffering, emerging from your body as you are racked by childbirth pains, fed at your breast and raised by you in your home. You cannot hate half your DNA more than you can hate the left side of your body. This is the person who will visit you in the nursing home on the day you lie dying, so why hate them?

The rape had nothing to do with child, except sperm donation. Penalizing a child for its moment of conception is beyond criminal: it’s cruel and smile minded.

I have believed for a long time that the decision to abort, in any instance, should be that of the woman. And that no-one has a right to judge her for it.

That's a tough question. If you knew the rapist and kept the baby, would you constantly be comparing the child to it's father? Would you love it less if he/she resembled the father?

I can easily understand aborting it, but I think there's a strong epigenetic influence on child behaviour.

Yes. I couldn't blame the actions of another on an innocent child.

Not quite the same as I am a guy.
My foster son is one such child,
and his mother does/did love him- most of the time. Well some of the time.
I think when they are at odds other feelings come through and a lot of resentment.
He lived with me a long time and was estranged from his mother and siblings,
he is 22 now and they are in semi regular contact.
Were I a woman faced with this problem, I would not keep it. Plain and simple.
But a child once born is a child and not responsible.

I'd abort it. It's not a baby, it's not even a foetus. It's biological garbage left by other biological garbage.

I'd abort the moment I found out I was preggers.

Yes.

Hard to imagine that situation without experiencing it. In many cases, a mother’s love knows no bounds. Certainly, my love for my child is not in any way diminished by the abuse of his father. But it’s hard to imagine a child created out of an act of intense trauma and violation.

No absolutely not. In that case ,at least for me ,abortion is the only way. With the way these laws are against abortion it's highly likely that my rapist would get partial custody of the kid.