Dear Men: The Abortion Debate and You

Dear Men,

You don’t think you have a game in the abortion debate. Think again.

The “pro-life” people argue basically that a woman should be forced to give birth to save another life.

They basically are saying that she does not have a right to make her own decisions because another life could be saved.

Guess what? This is where you men come in. Many of you, not all, but many have been expressing opinions from the cheap seats or just standing on the sidelines.

Well, this may directly impact you.

Let’s say someone needs your bone marrow to live. Or your kidney. Without it they will die.

Now you have two kidneys and need only one. You can give your marrow with even less impact and risk to your health than a woman deals with through pregnancy and child birth. Should you be forced to give undergo these procedures to “save another life”? According to the logic used by “pro-life” people, the answer very well may be yes.

You see, this debate is about autonomy. A person’s ability to make decisions about their own body.

When women are denied the opportunity to choose, it means that you too could be denied the opportunity to choose.

Right now they have not gone after you and, frankly, they may not because this is also an issue with patriarchy. That said, the situation will not always be this way and, if we get comfortable with the idea striping women of the right to make decisions about their own bodies, striping those rights away from others in different situations starts to look more reasonable.

Next time someone makes pregnancy and birth seems like an “temporary inconvenience”, remember that the procedure to remove your marrow or your kidney could be considered even more temporary even less inconvenient because it does not disrupt over 9 months of your life.

Yes, it may sound extreme because the argument has not been discussed much in this framework but it is accurate.

The autonomy that you are so passive about or willing to give up for women may, in fact, be your own autonomy later.

Think carefully.