The moral problem of a "rape exception"

[Recursion]

So, other than being very much pro-choice I tend not to talk much about reproductive rights, I suppose vaguely on (pre-crazy) Dennis Miller's theory of "one dick, no vote" on the issue. That may be a good idea or not.

But I have to say I think the serial gaffes committed by Republicans about not wanting to allow abortion in cases of rape is a much more logical and even a less misogynistic position than wanting to ban abortions "except in cases of rape or incest*."

If you take (which I don't) the pro-life position that opposition to abortion is based on respect for the life of the fetus, then having a rape exception makes no sense: we don't kill the children of murderers, so why kill the children of rapists? But, in fact, the widespread sentiment that a rape victim should not have to carry the child to term is pretty clearly evidence that the "pro-life" position is not at all about the life of the fetus, but about the perceived sexual morality of the woman. If pro-life people really were simply interested in saving the fetus, then Akin and Mourdock and Ryan are right that from that perspective how that fetus was conceived is absolutely irrelevant. That's not to mention the overwhelming problem of enforcement: does a man have to be convicted of rape before the woman can get an abortion (and that would almost always take longer than nine months), or would it be based on her report? Would she be required to press charges? Would the police have to get involved? In addition to the moral horror of forcing a woman to carry her attacker's child, it's simply an impossible law to enforce meaningfully.

My point is that people who are "pro life" but would allow abortions in cases of rape are not actually engaged in baby-saving, but in slut-shaming, and in a weird way Mourdock's and Akin's views are kind of more understandable.

* I'm also troubled by the phrase "rape or incest"; what we're clearly talking about is incestuous rape, so it's covered under the "rape" rubrick. Nobody's actually concerned about the reproductive choices of the vanishingly small number of consensual incestuous couples