Despite the vast ideological differences that divide the pro-abortion
and pro-life camps, advocates on both sides will agree on one key point:
it's really the man's fault.
Here's radical feminist Catherine McKinnon: "All heterosexual
intercourse is rape because women, as a group, are not strong enough to
give meaningful consent."
And pro-lifer Kathleen Howley opens her
anti-male diatribe with this
sentence: "I am going to try to say this without sounding like a
man-hating feminist."
But reflexively blaming the father only serves to perpetuate demeaning
stereotypes about women, and marginalizes the institution of fatherhood
in our society.
Let's examine the reality of how a woman ends up getting an abortion.
First, the interlude of passion. Yes, it's fair to say that on the
whole, men enjoy sexual relations.
Seductive women pursue sexual liaisons, as well - they just employ
different tactics. Just read the advice columns in Cosmo magazine. Or go
to your local nightclub on a Friday night -- count the number of women
cavorting about in bare midriffs, revealing necklines, and high-cut
dresses.
And if we accept McKinnon's absurd claim about women not being able to
give consent to the sex act, then obviously women are incapable of
consenting to surgical procedures, signing wills, and entering into
business contracts.
Second, the use of contraceptives. Yes, male condoms are available and
easy to use. But condoms are not nearly as effective as the
female-controlled forms of contraception, especially the pill. And dare
we mention the women who "forget" to take their pill before the big
date?
Third is the decision to get the abortion. As proof of male
irresponsibility, people like to cite Carol Gilligan's famous study, In
a Different Voice, which found that in one-third of cases, the father
influenced the woman's decision to get the abortion.
But citing this and similar studies reverses the argument. If the
decision to get an abortion rests with the father one-third of the time,
then clearly, the woman has made the decision in the other two-thirds of
the cases.
But even that one-third figure is suspect. A few years ago, Arthur
Shostak and Gary McLouth interviewed 1,000 fathers of aborted children.
Their book, "Men and Abortion: Lessons, Losses, and Love" reveals that
only 4% of the women had been opposed to getting the abortion in the
first place.
So the myth that women get an abortion because of coercion by marauding
sexual predators is an urban legend that serves to shield us from one
simple fact: abortion is by and large a female-dominated decision.
Consider the case of Norma McCorvey. She became pregnant in 1969. In
order to get an abortion, she falsely claimed that she had been raped by
her boyfriend. Her attorneys did not prevail under Texas law, so they
appealed, the case eventually reaching the Supreme Court.
To protect her confidentiality, McCorvey was referred to as Jane Roe. In
their famous 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court ruled in
McCorvey's favor, establishing abortion as a "fundamental" right for
women. But one must wonder, if the Supreme Court had known that the
pregnancy was concensual and not the result of rape, would the split
decision have gone the other way?
The fetus that resides within the mother's womb inherits half of its
genetic material from the father. But as a result of Roe v. Wade,
fathers have no standing under reproductive law. Women, married or not,
have no duty to consult with, or even inform the father about the
abortion. And this is exactly what happens 15% of the time. Fathers have
been biologically disenfranchised.
It is a truism that rights and responsibilities go hand in hand. When
rights recede, responsibilities also diminish. Thus deprived of their
fundamental biological rights, is it possible that Roe v. Wade also may
have intruded on men's basic sense of familial obligation?
