The most innocent victims of Texas abortion ban: Children forced to carry their abuser’s baby | SharonFGrigsby
This story has been updated following the June 24, 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
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. “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 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. 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.
With the help of generous donors, the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center provides the victims of criminal sexual abuse and their families with clothing and other material needs that might help rebuild children's lives. The social, emotional and financial consequences of sexual abuse — even when perpetrators are removed from the scene and healing begins — are enormous.
A common thought of sexual abuse victims, especially those who became pregnant, is that anyone on the street can look at them and know what happened. Murphey Sears, the center’s chief development officer, described it as the neon sign syndrome. “It’s just tragic to know that a child is already thinking about being this big neon sign for abuse, then also coping with the physical representation of that, not just the invisible feeling.”
The staff then assesses and treats victims and provides wraparound, supportive services to the family. Most of the time, more concerns are revealed — intimate partner abuse, physical abuse and other trauma within the family, oftentimes multi-generational.
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