There was a time in America when most of the proposed forced-birth laws allowed for abortion in the case of rape. Alas, this is no longer the case, because our right-wing has been radicalized!*
As one example of this, the United States succeeded in turning a United Nations resolution on rape in conflict into something which simply tut-tuts on rape. China and Russia further helped the United States by making sure that there would be no UN body whose job it is to monitor rape in wartime and to report on it!
There’s something mesmerizing about such resolutions! On the surface they look like support for the rights of rape victims, but a deeper look tells us that they are filled with foul-smelling air, signifying nothing.
Except, perhaps, that the rights of women, the largest group among victims of rape, are very very secondary in this world.
What the United States accomplished was the removal of this language from the resolution:
"Recognizing the importance of providing timely assistance to survivors of sexual violence, urges United Nations entities and donors to provide non-discriminatory and comprehensive health services, in line with Resolution 2106."
As Jill Filipovic notes:
It's bizarre and frankly cruel to oppose a resolution about rape by objecting to sexual and reproductive health care. Not to put too fine a point on it, but rape is a crime that directly impacts a woman's sexual and reproductive health.
Rape can damage a woman's sex organs. It can result in a sexually transmitted infection. It can result in an unwanted pregnancy -- something that can compound a rape survivor's trauma. Any standard of care for sexual violence survivors includes providing sexual and reproductive health resources.
For rape survivors who are able to get medical care within a few days of the attack, that means prophylaxis to prevent the transmission of HIV and other infections; emergency contraception to prevent pregnancy; an exam to gather evidence; treatment of any injuries; and psychological care.
For survivors who don't receive care until much later, the standard of care includes treatment of infections and injuries, as well as psychological care (something that, in crisis settings, is in high demand and short supply). And yes, rape victims should also be entitled to end their pregnancies -- something that is safe and legal in much of the world.
But none of that matters to the strong forced-birth bloc inside the US Republican Party. All that matters to those people is that a woman who is, say, gang-raped by enemy soldiers not be allowed to avoid the possibly risky pregnancy and forced birth of a child from that rape.
All this reminds me of the Monty Python song Every Sperm Is Sacred.
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* We should study how that radicalization happened. Online? By listening to Fox News and by reading Breitbart.com? In all those fundie mega-churches?
(This is sarcasm.)