Quite often during pregnancy men are viewed as disconnected sperm donors, whose journey of fatherhood really only begins after birth – should it be allowed to occur. However, from the moment of conception both parties involved are changed from being simply man and woman to mother and father – whether they choose to accept the roles or not. Here Geoffrey Moore describes what happened to him at the news of his wife’s pregnancy:
In a matter of seconds, I became a new man. I added to my roles of son, brother and husband the brand new role of being a father. I now knew I was charged with raising and teaching a precious little baby about how to be a responsible, productive, honest, decent and upright individual.
Since abortion destroys this good and natural response to fatherhood, it is not hard to imagine the impact it could have on men after the fact. From the LA Times, Changing abortion’s pronoun, a growing number of men are experiencing post abortion pain and regret:
Baier, 36, still longs for the child who might have been, with an intensity that bewilders him: “How can I miss something I never even held?”
These days, he channels the grief into activism in a burgeoning movement of “post-abortive men.” Abortion is usually portrayed as a woman’s issue: her body, her choice, her relief or her regret. This new movement — both political and deeply personal in nature — contends that the pronoun is all wrong.
“We had abortions,” said Mark B. Morrow, a Christian counselor. “I’ve had abortions.”
Many of these men hope to find a place for themselves at the March for Life in Washington this month alongside the women of Silent No More who also regret their abortions.
Even though abortion rights activists recognize that abortion is a tough and even heart wrenching decision for most men and women, few will acknowledge that there might be lasting emotional or psychological effects after a final decision in favor of abortion. The battle cry is that there is not enough psychiatric “evidence” to support that such a phenomenon might exist apart from a few anecdotes here and there. Unfortunately abortion has become so political we may never get a final answer to the question of “post abortion syndrome”. Gov. Blunt has attempted to seek an answer to this problem here in Missouri, but has met much criticism for putting together what opponents call a bias task force as Blunt is an abortion opponent.
Men and Abortion
The Impact of Abortion on Men
Post Abortion Stress Syndrome for Men
Fatherhood Begins at Conception