You seemed to imply you the bishop knew there was no way any of them would survive if the pregnancy was carried to term and so the only possible explanations for his decision were:
1) he thought pregnancy is of itself good enough 2) he wanted to teach the child (and those like her) a lesson 3) he was lashing out unthinkingly, either because it's a sin so someone has to be punished, or more generally to atone for the Bad Thing.
I think a far more plausible explanation is that he believed - rightly or wrongly - that the best odds for keeping as many people alive as possible was by not giving the girl an abortion.
I used the word 'sinister' because I think punishing people for being raped is sinister, by which I mean it gives me a nasty shuddery creepy feeling when I think about it, as well as believing it's evil. I agree your other suggestions just involve industrial grade stupidity.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-03-09 10:00 pm (UTC)1) he thought pregnancy is of itself good enough
2) he wanted to teach the child (and those like her) a lesson
3) he was lashing out unthinkingly, either because it's a sin so someone has to be punished, or more generally to atone for the Bad Thing.
I think a far more plausible explanation is that he believed - rightly or wrongly - that the best odds for keeping as many people alive as possible was by not giving the girl an abortion.
I used the word 'sinister' because I think punishing people for being raped is sinister, by which I mean it gives me a nasty shuddery creepy feeling when I think about it, as well as believing it's evil. I agree your other suggestions just involve industrial grade stupidity.