The most innocent victims of Texas abortion ban: Children forced to carry their abuser's baby

[Celerity]

“This is never the story these families had written for themselves.” The Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center handles the county’s toughest cases.


Amid a supply closet filled with clothes and toys, a shelf of "court/coping bags" is a stark reminder of why children and their caregivers wind up at the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, which works with the county's most heinous criminal sexual assault cases. The "coping bags" are filled with snacks and quiet distractions to help victims feel as relaxed as possible during courtroom proceedings.(Shelby Tauber / Special Contributor)

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/commentary/2021/10/15/the-most-innocent-victims-of-texas-abortion-ban-children-forced-to-carry-their-abusers-baby/

The Dallas County mother sensed something wasn’t right with her young daughter. A trip to the doctor revealed the truth: The 11-year-old was pregnant. The girl was too young to comprehend her medical condition — or to understand that the terrifying and secretive “game” that her father had inflicted on her for months was rape. It’s understandable if you feel you can’t bear to read any further, but this 11-year-old and the many others like her deserve our attention now more than ever. Already exploited by their rapists, these children now also suffer the consequences of Texas’ so-called “heartbeat” law, which bans almost all abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy even in cases of rape, sexual abuse and incest. Having suffered the worst possible violence, these girls must carry and deliver their rapist’s child. They’ll endure the physical and emotional trauma involved in pregnancy, birth and a lifetime of ensuing consequences that can be as awful as the initial sexual abuse.

That’s an unjust fate for all women, but today I want to focus on these youngest victims whom most people aren’t even aware of. In just one recent month, seven pregnant 12-year-olds and their caregivers sought help at the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, which handles the most serious criminal sexual abuse cases in the county and where victims first share the atrocities in which they have been trapped. “You go down and meet with them for the first time and they look every bit 12 years old,” Mindy Jackson, director of support services. told me. “They’re small, young, in a cute little T-shirt and rainbow shoelaces.” The center doesn’t release overall pregnancy statistics, out of concern of further stigmatizing those it helps. But staff members told me of recent pregnant rape victims as young as 9 years old. “It’s been the same with a lot of 10-year-olds and even more 11- and 12-year-olds,” said Katrina Cook, director of clinical services.



The Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center can’t afford the time or potential fallout to get caught up in political debates. Its job is to support victims and their families from the moment of that first forensic interview with the child until the family’s ”graduation day” from therapy. But this is also a staff committed to healing children’s trauma by offering as many options and resources as possible — and the new Texas abortion law creates only limitations. Again and again, staffers reminded me, the people they serve are here only because somebody harmed their child in the most despicable way possible. “This is never the story these families had written for themselves,” Jackson said. When a pregnancy is part of the tragedy, the outcome is solely in the family’s hands. Each decision is complexly layered with personal values and experiences, faith, culture, resources and political philosophy. Some families decide to go through with the pregnancy and either raise the child or put the baby up for adoption. Other families decide that terminating the pregnancy, if still medically possible, is in the best interest of their child. Senate Bill 8, likely headed to a legal showdown in front of the Supreme Court, takes that option away.

Regardless of the choice they make, all families dealing with a rape-induced pregnancy “already have an additional bucket of awful they have to work through,” Cook said. “Each family makes the decision based on the right thing, the best thing, for that family,” she said. “There’s a lifelong impact in all three choices, but at least they can take some comfort and relief in getting to make the choice.” While sexual abuse happens in families of all backgrounds, the new Texas law falls heaviest on those without the financial means to travel to another state for an abortion. Research shows that one in five girls nationally — and one in 20 boys — is sexually abused, almost always violated by someone they knew, loved and once trusted. Of the 26,000 reports of sexual abuse in our county last year, the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center handled more than 8,000 of the worst. The social, emotional and financial consequences of sexual abuse — even when perpetrators are removed from the scene and healing begins — are enormous. Children who have been sexually abused are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction. Forty percent suffer from suicidal ideation and many more develop a low self-esteem and feelings of worthlessness.

snip

[onecaliberal]

1. This is so vile and evil. I hope the people who perpetrate this on women burn in hell.

[Celerity]

2. forced to be a rape-made 'holy vessel' at NINE YEARS OLD

recent pregnant rape victims as young as 9 years old

[onecaliberal]

7. Did not get pregnant from the rape thankfully.

And I was not 9. This is so so fucking unconscionable, I can’t even.

[Celerity]

8. I am so sorry

[elias7]

3. The governor should be forced to have custody of all these children

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. Better yet

he should be forced to pay child support for every one of them out of his own personal pocket.

[Celerity]

6. that would end well...🤮... a legion of captive, indoctrinated breeding stock in 14 to 17 years

[blueinredohio]

5. Can you imagine kids bringing their friends home

introducing everyone. This is my grandfather who is also my dad.

[demigoddess]

9. almost every woman I have ever known, has told me of being molested/raped

by family members when young. One girl told me this when we were both 12 years old. I have a story to tell too. I was 3 yrs old. Texas republicans should take a long walk off a short pier.

[MustLoveBeagles]

10. This law is pure evil

A full term pregnancy will probably kill some of these kids.

[Hekate]

11. KnR

[MrsCheaplaugh]

12. This is an atrocity.

Those poor children.