Letter: Comments about rape survivors being ‘statistically insignificant’ are heartless and cruel

I felt compelled to comment about Christine Flowers’ Nov. 2 op-ed, which said the incidence of abortions triggered by rape is statistically insignificant.

I am pro-life. Then I worked as a victim advocate, in a prosecutor’s office and Department of Corrections, for six years. Different advocates have legal responsibilities with victims (survivors) they work with. I worked with community advocates who serve survivors. They help survivors maneuver through their lives after an assault. Pull a thread; the carpet of a life tends to unwind.

Comments about survivors being “statistically insignificant” are heartless and cruel. The National Center for Victims of Crime has current statistics regarding assaults that are often not reported to medical providers or anyone. This is the human factor. Until we stop assaults against people there is little hope of keeping our innocent babies healthy. The goal is to never give up the hope.

Statistics are an end symptom for a complex web of icebergs below the surface of these “statistically insignificant” numbers of individuals. We cannot tell a woman she can’t have an abortion without the social support she needs to choose life. Life is not black and white issues. There are no “statically insignificant” numbers related to survivors or the self-reported reasons why an abortion occurs.

This story was originally published November 15, 2015 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Letter: Comments about rape survivors being ‘statistically insignificant’ are heartless and cruel."