Regarding Bob Austenfeld's Oct. 12 letter, "Abortion makes rape sadder": I knew Austenfeld wouldn't agree with my previous letter ("Out of Gloria Steinem's league," Oct. 5), but I'm surprised at how poorly he seemed to understand it.
Austenfeld implies that I was arguing that "rape should be the exception for allowing an abortion (besides the health of the mother)." I thought it would be plain to anyone that I support the pregnant woman's right to make the final decision, period -- not just in the case of rape.
My point about rape was that people who claim that the fetus has the full status of a separate human being should oppose the exception for rape. No one supports murdering the already-born child. To me, this is a simple reductio ad absurdum, since it should be obvious that a girl who is raped should not be forced to bear the rapist's offspring. Austenfeld's attempt to justify the policy of forcing the victim to carry such a fetus to term strikes me as an exercise in euphemism.
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