About abortion 44 | Life Information Charitable Trust

Men and Abortion: Locked out of the Decision

Abortion has effectively turned a whole segment of the male population into a moral ambivalence, yet some men are victims of abortion abuse and suffer grief, anger, and a general sense of impotence about their lives.

Men have no legal say when it comes to abortion.
Men are denied the right to be involved in decisions affecting their unborn children.
Abortion should be a couple's issue but only a woman's rights are protected by law.
Men are denied a say in abortion but are required by law to support their children.
Beyond its emotional effects on men, abortion affects relationships as well, 70% of relationships break up within one month following an abortion.

Although men have, at least in theory, the right to beget children, no man (married or otherwise) has any legal way to secure that right. This, it is claimed, has had the effect of turning a whole segment of the male population into a moral ambivalence.

Men are denied a 'voice' regarding a woman's right to 'choose,' even though the 'choice' is whether or not their child will be aborted.

This disenfranchisement, stripping men of what is seen by many as a fundamental right to protect their children, has led to many men feeling betrayed and hurt. Some men suffer grief, anger, and a general sense of impotence about their lives.

Many people, including some who work in the field of post-abortion healing, are reluctant to admit that men can be considered victims of abortion, but Arthur Shostak, a Professor of Sociology at Drexel University, says that one of the largest shocks that sexually active young men encounter is the shock that comes from hearing their sex partner say: "The test is back and we're pregnant and I'm going to have an abortion."

Although men are required by law to support their children, they are denied any say when it comes to abortion.

"I am at Trenton State Prison as an inmate having been found guilty of murder. But I have more guilt feelings about an abortion I paid for many years ago than for the crime I am now in prison for. I know God has forgiven me for that killing, but I have never been able to pray away the guilt feelings I have about my part in the death of an unborn child."

In the early 1970s Garton was "pro-choice." As she wrote later, she was "seduced" by the word "choice." Garton says that she was instructed always to use euphemisms and misleading rhetoric, which led her finally to comment, "It seemed to me a strange kind of truth that required deception to promulgate it."

A crisis of conscience apparently ensued and she says, "I realized I either had to change my mind or continue to change reality by disguising the truth."

Men denied rights
Dr Rue says that many men are silent victims of abortion. "At a time when men are changing roles and becoming increasingly involved in raising their children, they are systematically denied the right to be involved in life-or-death decisions affecting their unborn children."

When men promote abortion they are being selfish, when women choose abortion they are affirming their rights.

Shostak observed in The Family Coordinator that 3 of 4 male respondents studied said they had a difficult time with the abortion experience, and that a sizable minority reported persistent day and night dreams about the child that never was, as well as considerable guilt, remorse and sadness.

Rue wrote in The Forgotten Fathers: Men and Abortion:

"When men promote abortion for their partners it is typified as coercion, lack of caring, insensitivity and selfishness.

When women choose abortion it is the exclamation of women's rights, an affirmation of the right to health and freedom from male, oppression, and a confirmation of sovereign territoriality over the female body and reproductive functions."