Sort of Off-Topic, But Also Sort of Not

I was thinking about an icky narrative convention seen in many works of fiction where a female character is punished for having sex. This is very common in horror movies (as we learned in Scream, "virgins never die"). But sadly it shows up in much sneakier ways all over the place. Watch for it - a woman who has sex outside of marriage is almost always headed for a downfall.

And so this got me thinking about things like abortion and rape. That's right. This post is about women's rights. Continue at your own risk.

I don't think the abortion debate is really about women's rights. I think it's about fetus rights. And I can respect either side of the argument. If you're pro-life, you believe a fetus has rights of some kind. If you're pro-choice, you don't believe a fetus has any rights. (Because surely life is the most basic right we can grant.) Although I have my own beliefs, I can respect either of these two viewpoints as valid.

What I cannot respect is the belief that there is some sort of moral grey area surrounding pregnancies that are a product of rape. If you believe that abortions should only be allowed for rape victims, you have some pretty screwed up ideas about pregnancy.

Here's my attempt at objectively summarizing this point of view: A pregnant woman has already made her choice, and should now have to deal with the consequences. An exception can be made for rape victims, because that choice was taken from them.

And not so objectively: Pregnancy is a punishment for doing something wrong. Women are punished for having sex by being forced to bear children. But rape victims didn't do it on purpose, so they can have abortions.

People with this belief are not anti-abortion because they believe in the rights of the fetus. They are anti-abortion because, if women are allowed to terminate pregnancies, how will they be punished for having sex?

The widespread popularity of this belief means our young female who is murdered after losing her virginity is sort of art-imitating-life.

Just like pregnancy, this guy makes sure
lusty young gals get what's coming to them.