Support, not shame, is needed after sexual assault

Editor,

Some people might have seen Students for Life’s display addressing the issue of sexual violence on campus, but what many might not have realized in passing was that this display was actually a front to push a particular viewpoint that in fact stigmatizes some survivors of sexual assault: those that have abortions after being raped.

Students for Life used this issue to hand out propaganda that claims that abortion is not acceptable even in cases of rape, which is an extreme position that not even all pro-life people share. Students for Life was making claims alongside their display that women who have abortions, including in cases of rape, later regret it.

First of all, the collection of such statistics is suspiciously slanted, but is it any wonder that some women might regret terminating a pregnancy after a sexual assault given the traumatic nature of the conception and the fact that people in their community — people such as those in Students for Life — work to shame them for their decision? There is rarely, if ever, a clear correlation indicating that the procedure itself is the cause of later mental illness. Implying that women who get abortions, even if they were dealing with sexual violence, are murdering children does not support women who have survived sexual assault.

I’m not against the message of supporting sexual assault survivors and working to prevent sexual assault on campus or anywhere else, but Students for Life’s effort to deal with this issue was a terrible approach, one that abuses the message of support and solidarity with survivors. Sexual assault is a serious issue, and it’s wrong to use it in order to propagate an extreme political view that undermines a sexual assault survivor’s way of maintaining control of her own body, her personal choice to heal and reconcile what has happened to her. The choice of a sexual assault survivor to terminate a resulting pregnancy is not a wrong choice.

It’s just as important to believe someone’s claim that they have been sexually assaulted or raped as it is to support that person no matter what conditions surround that incident. Spreading information that abortion is wrong, even in cases of rape, isn’t much different from victim blaming when it comes to sexual assault. That Students for Life used sexual violence prevention as a means to spread their anti-choice rhetoric was an entirely inappropriate way to address the issue.

If anyone on campus is dealing with sexual assault and would like fully supportive resources, I would recommend consulting the Women’s Resource Center, where your choices will not be judged under any circumstances whatsoever.

Sincerely,

Kendall Lovely

President of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance