Anyone who read a newspaper or listened to the news lately has
heard a lot of debate and discussion about rape, legitimate rape
and how a woman’s body protects itself from getting pregnant in
these traumatic situations. The reality is that there are more
than 32,000 pregnancies resulting from rape every year. Since
rape is one of the most underreported crimes in the United
States, we can assume that the number of pregnancies is even
higher. A 2003 study using data from the United States National
Violence Against Women survey found that the rate at which women
get pregnant after an incident of sexual assault is more than
double that of a single act of consensual sex. The American
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, in an Aug. 20, 2012
statement about rape and pregnancy, says: “There is absolutely
no veracity to the claim that ‘If it’s a legitimate rape, the
female body has ways to shut that whole thing down.’ A woman who
is raped has no control over ovulation, fertilization, or
implantation of a fertil