Greg Hutchinson argues in his Oct. 5 letter, "Out of Gloria Steinem's league" (which was a response to my Sept. 25 letter, "Right to life has priority"), that rape should be the exception for allowing an abortion (besides the health of the mother). I question whether it makes sense to take that innocent life just because it was conceived under such unfortunate circumstances. I'm sure there are many people today who are glad they weren't aborted just because their mother was raped.
As sad as rape is, aborting the baby only makes it sadder and I doubt it makes the mother feel any better. In fact, it will probably bring about just the opposite. I'm sure there are many loving families that would be happy to take such a baby should the mother not want to keep it.
I don't understand Hutchinson's comment about the status of an "already-born and independent child" being different from that of a fetus. Actually children usually don't become "independent" until after high school and often college.
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