[This article was written by Bryan Matthew Dockens.]

For years, political candidates have attempted to appease conservative voters by claiming to be “pro-life”, while moderating their positions to appeal to the mainstream by claiming three exceptions, namely: rape, incest, and the mother’s life. Is the pro-life position one that can bear exceptions?

In the case of rape, it is certainly true that someone deserves to die. That would be the rapist. The Old Law stated plainly, “If a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die” (Deuteronomy 22:25). Although the Law of Moses has been done away with, capital punishment remains a valid penalty for crime (Romans 13:4).

Under what rationale can it be argued, though, that the unborn child, conceived in rape, deserves to perish for his father’s sins? In the Old Testament it was written, “The fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall the children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deuteronomy 24:26). The baby in the womb is entirely innocent of the sin his father committed against his mother. Spare that child the pain of death. Punish the sinner, not one of his victims.
Continue Reading