You can make a political and moral argument that the exception should have been included. Many pro-life Republicans believe it should. I think so too, although I confess to having doubts about my position. Many in the pro-life movement aren’t convinced that human life begins at conception, but many more are. And if you believe that life does begin at conception, why wouldn’t you also believe that lives conceived in an act of awful violence are still entitled to protection?
You can argue their view is wrong. It might be. But it’s quite unfair to label it “crazy.” It is compassion, a virtue many of their detractors assume they are deficient in, that motivates most pro-lifers to oppose the rape, incest and life-of-the-mother exemption. And their compassion for the unborn children of crime victims doesn’t necessarily come at the expense of compassion for their mothers.
If life begins at conception and not at birth or in the third trimester of a pregnancy, then our national ideals, embodied in our constitution, require that mother and unborn child have equal protection under the law. Believing that doesn’t make you Todd Akin’s fellow traveler.
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