Posted on 01/21/2002 11:26:40 AM PST by truthandlife
As people on both sides of the abortion debate gather in Washington this week to mark the 29th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, there's an ongoing effort to examine why women have abortions in the first place. Some say men are pivotal in the decision women make.
"It's almost a unanimous statement...among all [women who have had an abortion] that they felt like they had no choice," observes Wendy Wright, spokesperson for Concerned Women for America.
That's ironic, Wright said, considering that the entire abortion movement was based on the idea of choice.
"But they feel they have no choice because their boyfriend, their husband [or] their parent is forcing them into it, telling them that they have to have this abortion, that they're not going to support them if they don't," said Wright, a pro-life activist who performs outreach work to women entering abortion clinics.
A 1998 survey conducted by the liberal Guttmacher Institute of 1,900 women who were seeking abortions found that number one reason for their choice was either that they couldn't afford it or were unready for the responsibility. Forty-two percent of women cited one of these reasons.
Other reasons given included concern about life changes (16 percent), trouble in the relationship with the baby's father or fear of single parenthood (12 percent) or lack of maturity/too young (11 percent).
The Guttmacher Institute characterized most of these reasons as "social problems." Wright traces it back to the father.
"Again, it does still go back to the fact that the abortion isn't something they wanted; it's that they felt they couldn't cope, that they couldn't finish their college career [or] advance in their career," said Wright. "Human nature is [that] she's going to be dependent on the man; and if he doesn't offer the support to give life to her child, then she's not going to feel very likely she can do it on her own."
An analysis by Catholics For Choice seems to support that conclusion. "Study after study has shown that in many countries of the world, women who have abortions would have continued that pregnancy if circumstances had been different." It's because many women who become pregnant unexpectedly are poor and feel they cannot provide a decent life for a child, the group says. And too often, "men are not prepared to love and commit to women and children."
Olivia Gans, a pro-life activist, agrees with Wright that men play a pivotal role. Gans herself had an abortion in 1981, before devoting her life to pro-life activism the next year.
"The single most important, powerful factor in the decision women make [according to a growing body of research] is the attitude of her partner, the baby's father," said Gans. "Eighty-percent of the decision is, in her mind, established based on his reaction."
In modern times, women actually expect more involvement from their partners in child-rearing, said Gans. If instead he urges the woman to have an abortion to stay together as a couple or says, "'I didn't want you to get pregnant; I have no interest in this; you deal with it; [or] it's your decision, you do whatever you want, I'll just do whatever you tell me to do,'" said Gans, women often experience those responses as a form of isolation and rejection.
Gans believes that the activism and rhetoric on women's freedom to choose has taught men that "the noble thing to do...is to say, 'well, honey, I'll drive you there.'"
In fact, the president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League may have made a different choice if her husband had been supportive of her own pregnancy, according to Wright.
"In the early '70s, [Kate Michelman] had three kids, her husband left her, and she found herself pregnant," said Wright. "That's why she had an abortion. She was a single parent; she couldn't cope. If she had had someone around who would have supported her, she probably would not have been this crusader for abortion rights."
It took EXPERTS to figure THIS out??????
AWwww...........
Pooooor baby.......
In today's world she would have killed them all and then gone on Oprah!!!
THEN WHY JUMP INTO THE SACK TO BEGIN WITH????
She doesn't say it that way. I'm not sure if she sees it that way. But it sure comes across that way.
I wonder how abortion attitudes would change if the father had to be aborted with the baby so he couldn't create any more unwanted pregnancies. Dr. Will, any thoughts?
Shalom.
Saundra, Saundra, Saundra.
Do you think that if they were honorable men they would be abusing women this way?
Of course they don't care. All they wanted was a way to get their jollies that was easier and more satisfying than self-satisfaction or an inflatable doll. They care about as much about the woman as about the doll - perhaps less (depending on how much it cost to bed her).
Shalom.
Because she couldn't resist the President (X42) when he asked her?
Just guessing.
Shalom.
Why?
There are also fathers who try to discourage abortions and they deserve their pat on the back, however I wonder where their legal rights are in this case? As far as I know, they have none.
...there's a plethora of unprincipled men and an abundance of women willing to have unprotected sex with them.
In today's world if a girl hops in the sack with a guy and realizes the next day that she wasn't using any form of contraception she can take a pill to prevent the egg from implanting in her uterus and will not so much as miss a period.
What causes "Unwanted" pregnancy is well.. ignorance and outright stupidity. How many guys can tell you a story of a girl who told him he didn't need to use a condom? (More than you would believe. happend alot in my single days.)
I am sick of Men being bashed over what has become a perinial 'Woman's right' I do not accept the premise that it is a Man's fault that a woman gets pregnant. That is rediculous, completely crazy.
Like most guys I appologize for stuff I did not do to my wife all the time, but geez guys draw a line somwhere. You did not make her wreck the car because you didn't put your socks in the dirty cloths hamper and you did not force her to get an abortion.
Girls, Grow the heck up! You want responsibility over your bodies then prove you can handle it. Right now I don't think you can.
1. You don't get pregnant by accident.
2. You know something causes it.
3. You didn't get pregnant by sitting on a toilet seat.
4. You didn't first realize you might have had unprotected sex a month later.
5. You know the diference between skin and latex.
6. You know weather or not you took your pill
7. Your boyfriend most likely does NOT work at the abortion clinic, and that vacuum device is NOT a new 'Toy'
Get it? Get real. Most guys I know would do anything to prevent having thier child murdered by it's Mom. Delivered or not.
YOU have the tools to prevent it. You have the choice to kill or not to kill your unborn child.
Are you realy a slave to some guy's ****? <-(sexual organ located in the lower abdominal area)
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