Rose: Rape and sexual
assault are horrific.
If anyone here knows or
even themselves is a
survivor, it is horrific.
Our response needs to immediately
be one of compassion
and an eagerness to support
and advocate for anybody
who goes through that
or who has been hurt in any way.
Though, if a woman gets pregnant
because of an act of violence,
whether it's incest or rape,
this is, again, horrific
that she went through that,
but now we're dealing with a scenario
where there is a new,
innocent third party involved.
There is a child involved.
The penalty for that rape should be
100 percent on the rapist, should be
be 100 percent on the abuser.
They need to be held fully
accountable for their crime.
We don't even give the death penalty
to rapists in this country.
In fact, it's prohibited by federal law.
Why do we give the death penalty
or why would we give the death penalty
to that innocent third party,
to that little child in the womb?
And when you actually...
[Audience applause]
Rose: When you actually unpack what
a rape survivor goes through,
and we've done it.
The studies that we have,
the few studies that we have...
Abortion advocates say,
"Because of rape,
we need abortion to be legal."
Rape, incest, and life or health
of the mother issues
are less than one percent,
but they try to justify all
abortions with this.
"We need abortion to be
legal because of this."
If you actually talk to women
who have been survivors of rape,
and we interview them all
the time at Live Action,
women and girls who are survivors of rape
and survivors of incest,
they say that abortion,
for those that have abortions,
doesn't help them heal.
It wasn't a path of healing for them.
It was a second act of violence
and trauma for them,
and it didn't undo the rape.
Abortion doesn't un-rape the woman.
It's just more trauma and more violence.
The women that have chosen life
after rape, that weren't pressured...
A lot of the time rape
survivors are pressured.
"Duh, have an abortion."
Maybe that's not the
best path for her.
Among those that have chosen life,
many of them say that
God brought something
beautiful out of something
dark and ugly.
I think we need to
change our paradigm on this.
We should respect
the right to life of the child
and also not see abortion
as some sort of healing process
or path to freedom from
trauma for the woman.
Instead, it adds more trauma for her.
I think that's the
compassionate thing to do.
Thanks for the question.
Student: Thank you.
[Audience applause]
