Here's what anti-abortion activist Kristan Hawkins thinks of child SA
Description: Content warning: Child sexual abuse
What does it mean that someone who believes a fourth grader should be forced to give birth to her rapist’s child is now leading the anti-abortion mainstream?
Kristan Hawkins leads Students for Life of America, one of the best-funded anti-abortion groups in the country. She was once a fringe figure, but as the movement has shifted ever further to the right since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, she has taken center stage.
She debates on college campuses using the format Charlie Kirk popularized, and at a recent stop at Texas Tech University, a young woman walked up to the mic.
“If I was not allowed to have an abortion, I would have been pregnant by 9,” she said, stammering a bit. “I’ve been raped three times.” She opposed later abortions, she told Hawkins, but in cases like her own, she thought ending a pregnancy should be an option.
Kristan acknowledged that no 9-year-old would ever be ready for that. But what happened, Hawkins continued, wasn’t the fault of her fetus.
“You are a mother, because you had a child within you,” Kristan told the student, who stood knitting her fingers together. “All we simply ask is that you, as a woman, as a girl—and this is a completely unfair and unjust thing that’s happened, I’m not saying it was fair or just in any way—that you are capable and can withstand nine months of sacrifice so somebody else might have 90 years.”
We caught up with the student after. “It was really tough,” she said, holding back tears. “I know that my body would not have forgiven me if I didn’t do what I did. I think I would have lost my childhood.”
Read reporter Amy Littlefield's profile of Kristan Hawkins on our site, and watch the whole video on our channel. Close description
What does it mean that someone who believes a fourth grader should be forced to give birth to her rapist’s child is now leading the anti-abortion mainstream?
Kristan Hawkins leads Students for Life of America, one of the best-funded anti-abortion groups in the country. She was once a fringe figure, but as the movement has shifted ever further to the right since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, she has taken center stage.
She debates on college campuses using the format Charlie Kirk popularized, and at a recent stop at Texas Tech University, a young woman walked up to the mic.
“If I was not allowed to have an abortion, I would have been pregnant by 9,” she said, stammering a bit. “I’ve been raped three times.” She opposed later abortions, she told Hawkins, but in cases like her own, she thought ending a pregnancy should be an option.
Kristan acknowledged that no 9-year-old would ever be ready for that. But what happened, Hawkins continued, wasn’t the fault of her fetus.
“You are a mother, because you had a child within you,” Kristan told the student, who stood knitting her fingers together. “All we simply ask is that you, as a woman, as a girl—and this is a completely unfair and unjust thing that’s happened, I’m not saying it was fair or just in any way—that you are capable and can withstand nine months of sacrifice so somebody else might have 90 years.”
We caught up with the student after. “It was really tough,” she said, holding back tears. “I know that my body would not have forgiven me if I didn’t do what I did. I think I would have lost my childhood.”
Read reporter Amy Littlefield's profile of Kristan Hawkins on our site, and watch the whole video on our channel. Close description