Guest, of course it is not the fault of the embryo conceived as the result of rape or incest. But, you are not talking about a moment in time, you are talking about nine months of extreme bodily change, culminating in a labour of perhaps many hours, which can still be life threatening. You are talking about a life sentence for the victim - remember, those events aren't the woman's fault, either - of remembering how she was forced to undergo this process, risking her life, to carry a parasite she did not seek to carry, to feed it, to have it impose its needs above hers. Only a saint would love that child as it grew and stole her life, and I cannot believe an unloved foetus would grow as a loved one would. And how would the child feel - remember those teenage cries " I didn't ask you to have me!" - at its mother's response to its normal anger? Or, if it were adopted, at finding out why it was abandoned by its mother?

There can be no easy answer to these problems, but a woman who cannot face remembering the rape every time she sees her bulge ought to have the right not to have to have that man's will imposed one hers more than the initial act, if she so chooses. Personally, I think the normal post rape medical should include medication for STDs, including HIV, and next day contraception, so that the issue never arises.

Penny