[Jeff Higgins]

Abortion is legal in this country as well as many others. It is touted by its supporters as "a woman's right to choose". Well, doesn't it take two to tango? Where is the man's "right to choose" in all of this? Shouldn't the man have equal say? It seems society's reaction to the plight of the man responsible for an unwanted pregnancy is that he should have kept it in his pants; he should be better able to control himself. Too bad buckwheat, you need to suck it up and face the music. Can't the same be said about the woman? Why does she get any easy out if she can't control herself? Why is she entirely in the driver's seat on this? Today, even if the man wants to keep the child and support it, he does not have final say as to whether it is aborted or not. If he wants nothing to do with it, she can decide to have the baby and make the guy support it to adulthood. He is merely a spectator in the whole thing, totally subject to the will of the woman. Should he be? Here is what I propose: While the man cannot compel the woman to have an abortion, he should at least be able to say, in some offical manner, that he does not want the child. She still has the final say in what she wants to do with the child, just like now. If the woman chooses to keep it over his objections, he is off the hook. He is telling her to essentially "abort it or support it". After all, he is merely requesting her to employ a legal means to avoid the financial and emotional burden of supporting an unwanted child. Even if the woman is morally opposed to abortion, that really should not enter into the equation unless she is prepared to support it herself. We should not, after all, mix legality and morality, right?

Just a quick edit so everyone knows where I stand. I am very much opposed to abortion for any reason. I see "right to choose" as merely a comfortable euphamism for murder. Society has legitimatized and taken most of the sting out of a tragically wrong "choice" for women. Why not complete the tragedy and allow men equal say? Society has pushed for women to be "equal" to men in every regard, why doesn't the same society push for men to have "equal say"?