Thirty five years of Roe vs Wade
In a response to article from feminist Suzanne MacNevin called Anti-Feminist Beliefs & Criticism J. Soltys of JJs Garage made these comments:
First of all, women do not have to live in poverty. Women have the right to abort their unborn children to avoid the responsibility of parenthood - men do not have that choice. If men did, the deadbeat dad numbers would virtually disappear. Men can be forced into parenthood, women cannot. And if the child is born due to lack of protection by the man, it is still the woman's fault.
I think it's only fair that his poistion on abortion should be clarified therefore I'm reposting his latest article from Tuesday January 22nd in full so that there's no misunderstanding about how he feels on the topic:
35 Years of Roe vs. Wade - Celebration?
22-Jan-2008 03:09 PM --> In my writings I have used abortion in such ways as to give the impression that I am totally against it. However, I am not. I respect a woman's right to an abortion, but it doesn't mean I am devoid emotionally of its violence on a precious innocent life. Over the years my opinion about abortion has changed dramatically. I was once a solid supporter of abortion rights and felt any restrictions placed upon its needs and access was a gross injustice.
But things changed as I grew older. I began to experience my solid support for this right diminishing over time. There are many reasons why my opinion changed, but the greatest impact came from my work with men and men's issues, and the birth of my own children.
The impact from the birth of my children is self evident to any man who has become a father. When my wife became pregnant, she was considered "high-risk" due to complications from the birth of her first child - my step-daughter. Therefore, six weeks into the pregnancy the doctor requested my wife and I come in for an ultra-sound exam. It was at that moment, when I saw the miniscule beating hearts of my children, that I knew I would never again argue for the right of women to have unrestrictive and unbridled abortions.
I recognized two important fundamentals of life that day:
First, with a right comes a responsibility, and second, just because it is legal to engage in certain practices, doesn't mean those practices are morally justified.
The other component that led to my erosion of support for abortion came through my work with men and men's issues. In my work with men's organizations - those that help men going through difficult periods in their lives - I ran across a few men that were emotionally troubled by abortions they agreed to when they were young and irresponsible. The deep-seated emotional trauma of the abortion experience lay dormant in these men, and did not manifest until the men were older and going through the process of being a father for the first time.
It was during this same time when dealing with these issues and others that I began to see society's hypocrisy towards men and the issues they face. It is as simple as this:
Society wants better men, and most men are willing to better themselves, but society isn't willing to make any serious commitment intellectually, emotionally, or financially to men, boys, and fathers and the issues they face.
Thus began my work and research into men and men's issues.
Today I use the right to abortion as the epitome of the sexism and hypocrisy men face. It authenticates in various ways the core arguments that most father and men's rights advocates vocalize - the unequal, and discriminatory attitude towards men and masculinity.
Here are my reasons, the hypocrisies and inequities, that have caused the my unequivocal support of abortion to fade:
-- Many feminist deplore the horrors and violence of war and are quick to point out that war is a product of masculinity. However, abortion kills more innocent lives every year than most wars, but the feminist sleep well knowing this feminine violence upon innocent victims occurs at a rate of almost 3300 everyday in U.S.
-- Most wars are fought to secure and protect the liberties, safety, security, and stability of civilizations from rogue nations and dictators. In other words, the end results of men's wars have resulted in the preservation of influential societies and governments. For all its devastating sacrifices, ultimately everyone benefits.
Consequently, studies show most abortion services are performed to avoid the responsibility of parenting. Therefore, it uses the death of innocent victims as a means to advance the interest of predominantly one party only - the woman.
-- While feminist decry abortion as an inherent right - "my body, my choice" - I see it as another example of a matriarchal system that establishes a social construct in which children and men must sacrifice their rights and lives in order to preserve and advance the well-being of females.
In other words, the matriarchal system believes equality begins by establishing a woman's life as having more value than that of men and children.
-- While feminist have always been quick to point out the tragedies women suffer at the hands of men who become deadbeat dads and abandon their responsibilitiy to their child, they avoid discussing the differences between men and women concerning the avoidance of parental responsibility. The majority of men abandon their parental responsibilities by running away from women and children, but leave the child(ren) alive, which leaves the potential for faith, hope, and opportunity to intervene. Women just kill the unborn child, killing the power of faith, hope, and opportunity along with the child.
-- Feminist and pro-choice supporters have established in their arguments that the government has no business intervening in a woman's life and making the emotional, and life changing decision as to whether she should terminate her pregnancy. For abortion supporters, having this powerful choice of decision placed into the hands of somebody else is the greatest injustice women can face. This is validated by its importance included at every political election.
However, these same abortion supporters have no problem with current abortion laws that exclude men legally from the abortion decision making process, giving women total power and control over whether or not the father will be forced into parenthood. It appears women do not want others making life changing decisions for them, but they are very comfortable making those same decisions for others and calling it "fair".
-- It must also be noted how Roe vs. Wade began. A woman named Norma L. McCorvey became pregnant with her third child. Her first child was raised by her mother, the second child left to be raised by its father. When she became pregnant again, she did not want the responsiblilty, so she sought an abortion - illegal at this time. When she found out she could not get one legally, she decided to try a different tactic - she claimed she was raped. It turns out she later admitted her rape story was false.
Feminist have consistently stated women will never lie about being raped, and any false claim of rape is extremely rare and has no lasting effect on those involved.
Really?
The foundational issue of a woman's freedom and liberty from the masculine patriarchy has been the right to an abortion. And the main event leading to this historical victory for women began with a false accusation of rape - the very thing the feminist say never occurs. And remember, according to them, should it occur, it has very little impact on those involved and almost no impact on society.
I'll leave you to decide.
My point: I believe in the right for women to have access to abortion services, but I do not believe that abortion should be used to abandon parental responsibility.
I view abortion the same way I view war - a necessary evil.
Each of these uncomfortable events carries the right to do so, but each carries (or should carry) the responsibility to find more reasonable solutions at all cost. And just because we can rightfully carry out either action, doesn't automatically justify that it is morally correct to do so.
As one can see, abortion carries many of the core issues faced by men and father's rights activist today. That is why I use it as a convenient issue to display the inequities that men and fathers face.
Again, I'm not against a woman's right to an abortion. But if someone is going to vocalize to me about men and masculinity being at the root of all evil, well… you know where this debate is going to go.
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