Secular reasons for and against legalising abortion

[Dolorian]

The justification for abortion in the case of rape is the notion that carrying the pregnancy to term victimizes the woman a second time.

No, the victimisation occurs when the woman is prevented from having a say so in the matter in the same way that she didn't have a say so in being raped in the first place. If the woman chooses to carry the pregnancy to term then there is no victimisation.

Rape is not the only crime that has lingering damages. A robber’s assault could leave his victim injured for much longer than 9 months, maybe even permanently.

In the case of such a permanent injury there is nothing the victim can do about it, which is not the case in a rape which results in pregnancy, where there is the possibility of having an abortion.

At least in the case of an unwanted pregnancy from rape, there is no actual injury, only the potential emotional trauma. I don’t mean to down play the emotional impact of carrying a rapist’s child, but at the same time we are balancing the life of one human against the mental well-being of another, as discussed in my earlier post.

You are very much down playing it. Claiming that all the woman has to face is a potential emotional trauma is quite the simplification. Having a fetus who is the result of a rape developing in your womb has an impact in the woman's life that goes beyond a potential emotional trauma.

It is important to remember that there are three parties affected by the crime: the rapist, the woman, and the unborn. The unborn was not a party to the crime between the woman and the rapist.

There was not a crime between the woman and the rapist. A crime was committed on the woman by the rapist. The woman is the victim here.

If the unborn is indeed a human being, which is a biological fact, then to take away the life of an innocent human because of someone else’s crime would be unjust.

Maybe, but so is preventing the woman from having a choice in the matter in this particular case.