Los Angeles Times Examines Efforts To Encourage Antiabortion Advocacy Among Men Whose Partners Had Abortions

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 08 Jan 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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Los Angeles Times columnist Stephanie Simon on Monday examined the "burgeoning movement of 'post-abortive' men," or men whose partners have had abortions. According to the Times, some antiabortion advocates are seeking to "dramatically expand" the impact of messages about the possible effects of abortions by including the experiences of men in addition to women.

The Justice Foundation, which has submitted affidavits of women describing their experiences after abortions to courts and lawmakers, recently began soliciting affidavits from men. An online Justice Foundation link says, "Your story will help legal efforts to end abortion." The Silent No More Awareness Campaign also encourages men to speak at antiabortion rallies. In addition, more than 150 antiabortion advocates, mostly counselors and clergy members, recently attended a conference in San Francisco that was billed as the "first national conference on abortion and men," the Times reports.

Some groups recruit men to attend Bible studies, church-based retreats and support groups that urge them to think of themselves as fathers, as well as to name and ask forgiveness of the children they might have raised, the Times reports. "They draw in men who may have a little ambivalence, possibly a little guilt, and they exacerbate those feelings," Arthur Shostak, a sociologist who has interviewed thousands of men waiting at abortion clinics, said.

Although some studies have suggested that women who have had abortions have a greater risk of depression and drug abuse, no causal link between the procedure and the conditions has been found, Nada Stotland, president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association, said. Abortion is one of the most common surgeries in the U.S., and physicians have not seen an epidemic of trauma in women or men, according to the Times. Antiabortion groups have "succeeded in convincing the American public" that abortion harms women, Stotland said, adding, "It's a rule of thumb that if you want to get a law passed, you have to tell anecdotes that grab people." Nevertheless, last spring, the U.S. Supreme Court cited these accounts as one reason to ban the abortion procedure that opponents call "partial-birth" abortion. The majority opinion suggested that the ban would protect women from a decision they might later regret.

Antiabortion advocates leading the men's movement said they are relying on men's personal stories, not statistics. "The lived truth of peoples' experience is very hard to dismiss," Vicki Thorn, who runs post-abortion counseling programs for the Roman Catholic Church, said (Simon, Los Angeles Times, 1/7).

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