How many pregnancies were the result of rapes? Alpha Board member, Weiland debate the number
In Rick Weiland’s Oct. 28 article, “Overturning extreme abortion ban is a fight all South Dakotans must join by voting yes on Amendment G,” Weiland claimed that 1,300 women became pregnant from rape in South Dakota in the 18 months since the enactment of our abortion law.
One rape is too many. However, it’s important to promote accurate facts when discussing consequential policy decisions. And this claim simply does not add up.
According to the state Attorney General, 759 total rapes were reported between 2022 and 2023. Certainly, many women are too ashamed to report their rapes — around two-thirds according to RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.
But even if we tripled the number of reported rapes to account for this, that would be just under 2,300 rapes. Are we saying that over half of the rapes in South Dakota resulted in pregnancy? Are we saying there were four times as many pregnancies from rape in those 18 months as there were abortions performed in 2020 and 2021 combined?
For reference, of the thousands of abortions I performed when I worked at Planned Parenthood from 1995-97, not one of the pregnancies was the result of rape.
Let’s not play fast and loose with the facts to promote a political agenda.
Dr. Patti Giebink is a former abortion doctor and the author of the book “Unexpected Choice.” A South Dakota native, she has been practicing medicine for over 30 years, delivering babies both domestically and in hospitals overseas. Dr. Giebink has been granted admitting privileges in nearly a dozen hospitals statewide. After operating her own private practice in Sioux Falls, she worked at Planned Parenthood, the only abortion clinic in South Dakota at the time. Her book, “Unexpected Choice,” offers readers insights into both sides of the debate. Dr. Giebink is a Life Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and a member of the South Dakota State Medical Association. She is an executive board member at the Alpha Center in Sioux Falls.
Rick Weiland responds:
She is unfortunately wrong according to an article published by the American Medical Association.
See attached research from JAMA Internal Medicine, March 2024: 1282 rape related pregnancies in South Dakota since Roe was overturned.
We can argue back and forth about whose data is more accurate — but there can be no argument that South Dakota’s radical abortion ban forces a woman, who has been impregnated as a result of rape or incest, to carry that pregnancy to term. Now that is “too extreme.”
Dr. Giebink responded to that claim:
Our data is fact checked based on hard actual data from the SD state entities who are charged with maintaining accurate data. His reference is not. The JAMA ‘data’ is based on guesses and possibilities, but no one can fact check its accuracy.
We used an established estimate for determining the number of unreported rapes. Our data is reliable.
Editor’s Note: CNN has published a report based on the JAMA Internal Medicine study.
