Rape pregnancy a touchy subject

By R. Diah Imaningrum

MALANG, East Java (JP): A Jakarta-based daily wrote "Jakarta is Crying" to describe the mass emotion when the Acan family was the victim of rape and robbery two years ago. But when there was a riot and mass rape last May, the reaction was different. Some were doubtful whether the incident was factual or just a campaign by some non-governmental organizations to discredit the government. Police and lawyers are busy collecting proof in order to make the case juridically transparent.

If the mass rapes are assumed to be factual, some of the victims might well be pregnant. Such pregnancies were not the mothers' will and could result in long-term trauma. When the babies are born, the mothers' psychological, material and physical burdens could well increase.

Who will be responsible for the unwanted children? Whose duty will it be to devote attention, love, education and everything else needed to make them physically and mentally healthy when they grow up?

Such questions may justify the solution that fetuses arising from rape could be aborted.

Some religions, ethics and laws recognize the fetus' right to live in the mother's body and they prescribe as to when a fetus is called a human being that may not be aborted.

Islam, for example, recognizes the fetus' right to life after three months of pregnancy because at that moment the spirit of life has been blown into it by God. Catholics recognize such a right from the moment of conception.

Modern genetics and embryology explain accurately the growth of human beings from the union of egg and sperm until the baby is born. The continuous and uninterrupted growth implies that human life exists from the moment of conception. Many scientists suggest that some steps can be regarded as the beginning of human life, such as the planting of an ovum in the uterus for about six to seven days, after brain waves can be observed and after the quickening of the fetus' movement in the mother's body.

In a rape pregnancy, it is not easy to let the fetus enjoy his right to life because it is unexpected. Usually there are three arguments to support the abortion of a fetus resulting from a rape. * Everyone has the right to self-determination. This argument is based on the interpretation of an autonomy principle in ethics. As an autonomous person, the pregnant mother -- who carries her baby in her body -- has the right to choose whether to continue the pregnancy or to throw the baby away.

This argument has to be clarified. It is doubtless that every person has the right of autonomy. But does it mean that it has to sacrifice another person's right to live that is recognized by an ethical principle as well as the law? * The pregnant mother suffers psychologically and physically because of the rape. It is not fair to compel her to carry the result of that crime for nine months. For that reason, although the fetus has become a human being, the mother has the right to abort it. * The fetus has no right to exist in the mother's body. It exists there because of an act of aggression by the rapist. And letting it exist in the mother's body is aggression against the mother, both mentally and physically. So, the mother has the right to challenge that aggression by throwing the fetus away.

Those two arguments still need clarification as to whether it is true that the fetus is an aggressor. Although the rape is not fair, it is not the fetus that has committed the crime. The opinion that a fetus is an aggressor that has to be killed must be clarified. Like the mother, the fetus is a victim too. The actual aggressor is the rapist.

According to Article 15 of Law No. 23/1992, abortion of pregnancy caused by any reason is prohibited because it is contrary to religious, social and legal norms. Nevertheless, in an emergency situation, such as securing the mother's life, specific medical action can be taken, with some conditions. An extreme medical indication exists when there is a tradeoff between the mother's and the fetus's lives if no medical action is taken. It can be interpreted that pregnancy caused by a rape can be aborted as long as it does not endanger the mother's life.

"Who is responsible for the pregnancy" is the most important question. It is the task of the government to guard and to save the fetus as well as the mother. Why? Because, one of the tasks of the state is to guard and to save the rights of its citizens, especially the powerless.

Assistance that can be extended to the rape victims may include psychological, religious and social avocations, as well as the adoption of the babies if their victimized mothers do not want to take care of them. Other people should respect the human rights of the rape victims with a greater understanding, sympathy and compassion.

The writer is a lecturer at Widya Karya Catholic University in Malang, East Java.