Mary, a nice Italian girl from the Bridgeport area in

Chicago is raped by her father one night after returning home to find

him drunk and coming on to her. She learns three weeks later that she

is pregnant. Completely petrified with nowhere to turn, Mary goes to

her church. She sits down with her pastor, and he quietly comforts her,

and tells her it will be all right. She brings up the idea of having an abortion

and he calmly excuses her from the office without discussing this idea.

He calls the life beginning to grow inside of her a baby, and claims that

baby needs not to be killed but to be loved. What should Mary do? She

is carrying her fathers child and is told that this is OK and must be

In looking into the opinion the catholic church holds regarding abortions,

even cases of rape and incest, I have found out that the church is adamantly

against them. However while researching, I also found some interesting facts

regarding practicing Catholics and thier views on this topic. Interestingly

enough, the majority of Catholics that have been questioned on this topic were

opposed to the church's harsh rules, and thoughts.

has, in other words, a right not to be killed." But do those who are violated

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She goes on further to say "a bottom-line minimum for respecting human life is

women, many report that instead of feeling free or happy after the abortion,

"Abortion doesn't end with the baby. It should also be remembered that no

illegal in normal cases of pregnancy but in cases of rape and incest as well. She

not only to the fetus, but to the soon-to-be mother as well. She claims,

you, first, to face honestly what happened, repent, and be reconciled to the

they feel burdened with guilt and loss." After reading this I wanted to see her

that "most Catholic dioceses in the United States sponsor programs of healing

considers there to be to many implications made by making exceptions to the

violated mother ...is more love-not death!" as she explained in her article,

Some common words found in the essay are:
Catholic Update, Bridgeport Chicago, Times October, Clancy Shulman, God' Surprisingly, Gospel Life, Helen Alvare, Donum Vitae, rape incest, Time/CNN June, Holy Father, post-abortion women, idea abortion, human life, human life human, abortion illegal, abortion church, abortion feel, life human, catholic church,
Approximate Word count = 874
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)