In a memorable Andy Griffith episode, Opie decided to run away. Instead
of trying to convince Opie to stay, Andy helped him pack. Of course, Opie changed his mind and stayed.
That Andy. He knew all about abortion.
Liberals say a woman’s reproductive freedom is more important than the life
of a child.
We protest and protest.
“It’s murder,” we say. “Don’t kill your child,” we plead. “We were all once
wombed,” we argue.
They don’t listen. They run away from logic.
So let’s remember the wisdom of Andy, and pack their bags. Take this to
its logical conclusion.
Since a woman has reproductive freedom before AND AFTER she gets
pregnant, shouldn’t a man?
His reproductive freedom is so much easier to protect. No doctors involved,
no invasive surgery, no depression or wondering “what if” afterward.
Just a simple declaration will work. The man can simply walk around the
pregnant woman three times, each time saying, “I abort thee.”
And he is done. Free.
The logic is so simple. It is so fair.
These are the nine reasons Planned Parenthood claims for legalized abortion.
Won’t they also work for men?
1. Laws against abortion kill women.
To prohibit abortions does not stop them. When women feel it is absolutely necessary, they will choose
to have abortions, even in secret, without medical care, in dangerous circumstances. In the two decades before abortion was
legal in the U.S., it's been estimated that nearly a million women per year sought out illegal
abortions. Thousands died. Tens of thousands were mutilated. All were forced to behave as if they were criminals.
To prohibit deadbeat dads does not stop them. They will still be forced to work and pay
child support, in effect becoming a slave to the child. It is estimated that the man’s entire body, his entire future, is
taken over. His reproductive freedom is more important. Millions of men have
raised children when it was inconvenient. No more. They will not tie themselves down to a child and behave as if they were
slaves. They must not be subjected to potential jail time, forced to behave as criminals.
2. Legal abortions protect women's health.
Legal abortion not only protects women's lives, it also protects their health. For tens of thousands
of women with heart disease, kidney disease, severe hypertension, sickle-cell anemia and severe diabetes, and other illnesses
that can be life-threatening, the availability of legal abortion has helped avert serious medical complications that could
have resulted from childbirth. Before legal abortion, such women's choices were limited to dangerous illegal abortion or dangerous
childbirth.
Don’t men also get heart disease, kidney disease, severe hypertension, sickle-cell anemia
and severe diabetes, and other illnesses that can be life-threatening? Men may not bear the child, but they certainly bear
their share of the work. They baby-sit, change diapers, and give up their freedom to live their lives as they choose. They
often succumb to alcohol and other women to escape the pressure. It simply isn’t right to force a man to give up his life
in exchange for another’s. A man should be legally protected from these parasites, whether they be child or mother. A child
is too stressful. Mental health is important, too.
3. A woman is more than a fetus.
Some people argue these days that a fetus is a "person" that is "indistinguishable from the rest of
us" and that it deserves rights equal to women's. On this question there is a tremendous spectrum of religious, philosophical,
scientific, and medical opinion. It's been argued for centuries. Fortunately, our society has recognized that each woman must
be able to make this decision, based on her own conscience. To impose a law defining a fetus as a "person," granting it rights
equal to or superior to a woman's — a thinking, feeling, conscious human being — is arrogant and absurd. It only serves to
diminish women.
Hallelujah. Our society must recognize that a man must be able to make the decision to
raise a child based on his own conscience. The fetus must be stopped, if it is in the man’s best interests, before it becomes
“cute” and “cuddly.” Then the biological pressure on the man to care for the fetus may be too great to make a freely chosen
decision. Thankfully, the woman helps by hiding the thing for the first nine months. Letting the man see the born thing, when
he clearly doesn’t want to be burdened, amounts to a diminishing of the man as an autonomous being. A conscience is a burden.
No uterus, no responsibility, we say.
4. Being a mother is just one option for women.
Many hard battles have been fought to win political and economic equality for women. These gains will
not be worth much if reproductive choice is denied. To be able to choose a safe, legal abortion makes many other options possible.
Otherwise an accident or a rape can end a woman's economic and personal freedom.
Ditto. There logic is so well reasoned, so mature. Fatherhood is just another option.
Every child suppresses economic freedom. Every man has the right to economic freedom. Though men have not fought for this
right, it is inalienable. A man owns himself. A child ends his economic and personal freedom. The little blobs are quite expensive
and time consuming. And we shouldn’t even get into the ramifications to interstate commerce.
5. Outlawing abortion is discriminatory.
Anti-abortion laws discriminate against low-income women, who are driven to dangerous self-induced
or back-alley abortions. That is all they can afford. But the rich can travel wherever necessary to obtain a safe abortion.
Yep. The rich man can afford condoms, self-control classes, and can pay the woman off,
send the kid a check, hire a good lawyer. The poor man cannot. Discriminatory, discriminatory, discriminatory. The child doesn’t
discriminate in such a way, and the child has the moral high ground. Listen to the silence of the child!
6. Compulsory pregnancy laws are incompatible with a free society.
If there is any matter that is personal and private, then pregnancy is it. There can be no more extreme
invasion of privacy than requiring a woman to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. If government is permitted to compel a
woman to bear a child, where will government stop? The concept is morally repugnant. It violates traditional American ideas
of individual rights and freedoms.
There is no matter more private in a man’s life than deciding what burdens he will carry.
Choose to carry. It is his choice, not the governments. If government can compel a man to support a child AND a mother, where
will they stop? Can they force him to pay taxes? To feed and clothe the child? Force him to care for his own mother? Forcing
a man to do anything violates traditional American ideas of individual rights and freedoms. It is morally, yes, morally, repugnant.
Even the potential force is bad. Should a man be potentially forced to raise a child that was never born to a woman he never
knew? With compulsory pregnancy laws that potential always exists. Almost 100%
of women are not known to some specific man, somewhere. If it seems confusing, perhaps you just don’t have an open mind.
7. Outlaw abortion, and more children will bear children.
Forty percent of 14-year-old girls will become pregnant before they turn 20. This could happen to
your daughter or someone else close to you. Here are the critical questions: Should the penalty for lack of knowledge or even
for a moment's carelessness be enforced pregnancy and childrearing? Or dangerous illegal abortion? Should we consign a teenager
to a life sentence of joblessness, hopelessness, and dependency?
100% of those women who become pregnant will do so with the aid of the father. This father
could be you, your father, your son - any mother’s son is vulnerable. Every mother’s son is also vulnerable to the 40%. Should
the penalty for doing what is natural be enforced fatherhood? Should a mother’s son receive a life sentence of joblessness,
hopelessness, and dependency? Even nature does not require a mother’s son to be unhappy.
8. "Every child a wanted child."
If women are forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, the result is unwanted children. Everyone
knows they are among society's most tragic cases, often uncared-for, unloved, brutalized, and abandoned. When they grow up,
these children are often seriously disadvantaged, and sometimes inclined toward brutal behavior to others. This is not good
for children, for families, or for the country. Children need love and families who want and will care for them.
Wonderful logic. What kind of child will be raised by someone FORCED BY THE GOVERNMENT
to be bonded into slavery and servitude to that child? What resentment must surely spring forth from that situation? Better
for the child to have never been born, never to have been known. For all the bad that are born, there are surely more who
have never been bad or born. Every man can be a good father to the never born. We can all be proud of that. Remember, fathers
need love too.
9. Choice is good for families.
Even when precautions are taken, accidents can and do happen. For some families, this is not a problem.
But for others, such an event can be catastrophic. An unintended pregnancy can increase tensions, disrupt stability, and push
people below the line of economic survival. Family planning is the answer. All options must be open.
An accident. Yes, an accident should not come with consequences. Even though a man knows
the potential consequences, he should not bear the responsibility. If he wrecks his car, is he injured for life? Even if he
drinks and drives, is it right that he should die for a few drinks? No. Life is simply too precious to be wasted on “accidents.”
Yes, choice is good for families. If a caterpillar had choice, would the butterfly object? Only if butterflies are ignorant
conservatives.
So there. We are men, hear us roar. A man’s rights to reproductive freedom is sacred. Perhaps a judge
someplace will agree?
--Mike Fulford
