Raped By Dad? Just Turn Lemons Into Lemonade

Sharron Angle, the Nebraska Nevada Republican Senate candidate who recently made headlines when a radio interview was unearthed in which she opposed legal abortion even in case of rape/incest because "God has a plan" (and your assault is part of it), has caught media attention again for her advice to 13-year-old incest victims to just make lemons into lemonade.

The Huffington Post reports that, during an interview on the conservative Alan Stock Show, Angle was asked what she would say to a 13-year-old incest victim who became pregnant by her father's rape. Angle's response? She says she counsels teenagers facing "very at risk, difficult pregnancies" to just look about for alternatives, and when they do, "they found that they had made what was really a lemon situation into lemonade."

I don't think "lemon situation" accurately describes the unfathomable situation of a young girl who has been raped and impregnated by her own father — a situation that would be made even worse if Angle had her way and the girl was subjected by law to forced pregnancy. Angle's flippant, clichéd comparison shows how out-of-touch she is. You can survive a traumatic situation, move on with your life, but that doesn't make child rape a "lemons into lemonade" situation. There is no "upside" to being raped as a child, especially by your own father.

Furthermore, since a 13-year-old is less developed, her pregnancy is more likely to be, as Angle says she has seen, "at risk." Even without specific health complications, her life is in greater danger if she carries the pregnancy to term, and there's certainly no upside to costing a girl her life. If the girl decides to put her life on the line, it must at least be her decision among real options, not something she is forced by law into.

Not everyone appreciated my last post referring to Angle's statements and support for forced pregnancy as anti-woman and misogynistic, saying that she's just "pro-life." But holding the belief that abortion is wrong and we should try to prevent it, and advocating for legally requiring forced pregnancy and depriving women and child rape victims of control over their own bodies, are two different things. The latter looks anti-woman and misogynistic to me.

What I fail to understand about proponents of forced pregnancy like Angle is why they think "God's plan" involves raping and impregnating young girls, but His plan never involves giving humans the tools to let girls and women regain control of their own bodies. Why isn't rape and incest blamed on the negative elements of human free will, when instead "God's plan" involves a second instance of taking away women's control of their bodies by denying their choice to have an abortion? Why is it that God's plan never involves inspiring people with the knowledge of how to abort an unwanted pregnancy? Why aren't amazing doctors who devote their lives to providing women with reproductive health options doing God's work?

H/T Joe. My. God.

Photo credit: CoCreatr