Get Your Damn Priorities Straight

From Feministe.

“Colombian Catholic Church Excommunicates All Involved in 11-year-old Rape Victim’s Abortion.”

No word on whether or not they actually excommunicated the adult male rapist, although I doubt it.

I have no problem with the excommunication per se, but that’s because I’d never consider converting to Catholicism in the first place. I wouldn’t want to be part of an institution that would require a child, or any victim of sexual assault, to carry a pregnancy that resulted from said assault to term. I would happily tell this (male-dominated) institution to take a flying *bleep* on a rolling doughnut, with no offense to my Catholic friends. That sort of thing is not for me, and neither it is, I suspect, for the people involved in the abortion. Congratulations on your excommunication, guys.

When terminating a child rape-survivor’s pregnancy is considered a bigger deal than the actual rape of a child, I have to wonder just what value is being placed on the life, well-being, and dignity of the little girl. This is one of many cases wherein the rapist’s actions are obscured by the so-called “larger picture.” The fact that he is not being excommunicated speaks volumes.

For as long as females are considered, by some, to be walking baby-making machines, “vessels,” and “receptacles,” this sort of madness will, I believe, continue. Abortion is horrible, unthinkable, and brutal to these people, but a rape is something more natural, something they are certainly willing to deal with, particularly if the male perpetrator “feels bad,” and I am sure he has already told the Church officials this much.

I wonder how the Church is treating him anyway. Are officials bringing him cookies in jail? “Moving him to a different parish” (kudos to a clever commenter on Feministe)?

And what sorts of dealings are they going to have with the little girl? Is she going to be raised to believe she is a “murderer”? I certainly hope not.