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44 Val. U. L. Rev. 565 (2009-2010)
Rape is Tough enough without Having Someone Kick You from the Inside: The Case for Including Pregnancy as Substantial Bodily Injury

handle is hein.journals/valur44 and id is 569 raw text is: RAPE IS TOUGH ENOUGH WITHOUT HAVING SOMEONE KICK YOU FROM THE INSIDE: THE CASE FOR INCLUDING PREGNANCY AS SUBSTANTIAL BODILY INJURY I. INTRODUCTION In reading the following scenarios, consider the realities, both physical and emotional, faced by these women. First, imagine a thirteen- year-old girl who is often left at home with her stepfather and younger siblings in the evening.' One night, her stepfather wakes her up, takes her into his bedroom, and rapes her.2 This continues for several months until the thirteen-year-old girl tells her stepfather she may be pregnant.3 Her stepfather then takes her to get an abortion, which is performed without complications.4 Next, consider an adult woman raped by a family member.5 A Planned Parenthood counselor helps her reach the decision to have an abortion.6 Over the next five years, the adult woman attempts suicide five times and begins to abuse drugs to deal with the mental anguish from her experience.7 Consider an eighteen-year-old woman who was 1 People v. Cross, 190 P.3d 706, 708-09 (Cal. 2008). In the evening, K.'s mother left her at home alone with her stepfather and siblings. Id. 2 Id. at 709. Her stepfather would wait until her siblings were asleep and then would take her to his bedroom. Id. The defendant raped the victim regularly. Id. 3 Id. Although K. occasionally objected to these acts, she feared that her stepfather would take her cell phone away and not let her see her friends if she persisted. Id. 4 Id. K. underwent a surgical abortion twenty-two weeks into her pregnancy. Id. The doctor gave K. anesthesia and dilated her cervix. Id. The abortion lasted 13.1 minutes. Id. K. did not have any medical complications from the abortion. Id. The DNA analysis revealed a 99.9% probability that her stepfather fathered the fetus. Id. The state prosecuted K.'s stepfather for statutory rape. Id. The jury returned a verdict sentencing the girl's stepfather, Gary W. Cross, to twenty-one years to life imprisonment. Steven Ertelt, California Planned Parenthood Made Abortion Referral, Didn't Report Abuse, LIFENEWS.COM, Sept. 8, 2008, http://www.lifenews.com/state3469.html. The Court found that the girl suffered great bodily injury from the pregnancy. Cross, 190 P.3d at 712. 5 Anne Morse, Telling the Rape Victim's Story, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE, May 17, 2007, http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTYlMTdkYmMlNDAyNjEyNGRIYTQ3ODgwOW FiNTRkOGI=. Janet Warriner was an accounting clerk for a Fortune 500 company. Id. In 1981, a family member raped and impregnated her. Id. 6 Id. 7 Id. The rape and abortion devastated Warriner. Id. She felt that she punished an innocent child for the acts of the child's father. Id. This is a common feeling among impregnated raped women who select to have an abortion. Id. 565

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