Rape and abortion

Rape and abortion

From Bisnis Indonesia

It has been widely reported that some of the victims of gang rapes which happened during the mid-May 1998 riots are pregnant and are receiving treatment in some hospitals in Jakarta.

One of these cases is that of Rina, 16 (reported by Stevie Emilia in The Jakarta Post Aug. 13).

Rina must have been shocked by her pregnancy, realizing that she was pregnant as the result of a rape. Her gynecologist has yet to decide whether to abort her pregnancy because the Health Act prohibits abortion and exacts criminal penalties on both the doctor performing the abortion and the pregnant woman undergoing it.

Indeed, the Antiabortion Act must be enforced in a normal situation, when a pregnancy is the outcome of sexual intercourse between a husband and a wife or the result of a love affair between a man and a woman later legitimized by the families of both parties.

However, if the pregnancy is the outcome of a rape, I believe it is only appropriate and wise to have the pregnancy aborted for the following reasons:

1. The pregnant woman is mentally depressed, a factor that will exert a negative impact on the baby.

2. A baby born of a crime, in this case a rape, is considered illegitimate by the community, a label which will serve as an unfair mental punishment to the child.

3. If the mother decides that the baby is to be given up for adoption, the child may not have a good life if it happens to be adopted by someone lacking loving kindness.

KATHLEEN HARJADI

Jakarta