CHICAGO, November 18, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – After the Catholic governor of Illinois agreed to present a pro-abortion award to a rape advocate who favors abortion, another rape victim has spoken up to criticize the award, saying the recipient cannot speak for those like herself who became mothers through rape.
On Thursday, November 17, Personal PAC presented their “Pro-Choice Leadership Award” to Jennie Goodman for her role in helping to get pro-abortion Governor Pat Quinn elected last year. Goodman, a victim of rape at age 18, was featured in an ad in which she attacked the pro-life position of Quinn’s challenger, Bill Brady.
The award was presented by Quinn himself, something that has earned him the criticism of the Catholic bishops of Illinois. Quinn is a professed Catholic, and his presentation of this award, in the words of Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George, “crosses the line.”
While Goodman has used the story of her rape – from which she did not become pregnant – to promote a pro-abortion political agenda, another victim of rape has a very different story to tell.
Mary Higgins held a press conference yesterday morning outside the Chicago Hilton and Towers with other members of the Pro-Life Action League to underscore the most overlooked victims of rape: innocent children conceived in violence.
Higgins explained that when she was sexually assaulted at 18, she was faced with the choice that Jennie Goodman never had to make: what to do when she discovered that she had become pregnant with her rapist’s child.
Join a Facebook page to end abortion here.
Higgins ultimately chose life for her unborn daughter, and placed her for adoption. “It was the best choice I ever made,” she said. Higgins said she is offended that Goodman would use the story of her rape to defend aborting children like her daughter.
“Jennie Goodman defends her pro-choice position by remarking that she never had a choice about becoming a victim of rape,” Higgins says, responding to Goodman’s remarks in the media. “But she is forgetting about all the unborn children who never have any choice about becoming victims of abortion.”
Cardinal George had slightly softened his criticism of Quinn after learning that the award was presented to a rape victim, but maintained that his criticisms in reference to the award were “about Gov. Quinn, who on one hand identifies himself as a member of the Catholic Church and on the other hand is identifying himself strongly with a group that supports the killing of unborn children in their mothers’ wombs.”