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Help a fellow dad - abortion and the rights of a father?
Submitted by stefan on Wed, 13/01/2010 - 12:10pm
We've had a pretty tricky enquiry from a dad in the US about a father's rights when it comes to abortion. If you know anything about this, would be great if you could comment on this post. Here's the background: I have been supportive of the decision of my girlfriend having an abortion. Yes she made the decision and all I could do was try to do my best to be there for her, trying to be the strong one. I was devastated about it because I didn't want it to happen. She and I did talk about it. But rather than lose both of them, I chose to lose my child and have the mother still in my life. There are a lot of emotions dealing with the loss of a child for both the mother and the father. Before I was in a relationship, I was in a situation where I wanted the woman to have an abortion. She did not. I believe there are some cases where a father of the child should have equal or even more say than a woman when it comes right down to if his child should be born or not. In most cases I believe the woman should have final say. As a father, are you at the mercy of the woman's decision? Are there any legal grounds to make a case for/against an abortion? Trackback URL for this post:http://www.diyfathers.com/trackback/1300
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Hi Stefan, This is definitely
Hi Stefan,
This is definitely a tender subject. The argument put forward is that it is the women's body and she has say over it, but I think this argument is completely biased.
There are 3 people who are affected by this decision. The mother, the father, and of course the unborn child.
All will suffer from the decision to end the child's life, no more so than the baby itself, who has no say or choice in the matter, and undoubtedly if had the oppurtunity would strongly protest.
The mother at the moment does not realise that her loss will be that of losing a family member, and should seek unbiased advise on the subject before proceding. Advice certainly not from the abortion clinic but from mothers who have terminated their pregnancies, and will attest to the fact that their loss is a heavy burden they will carry for the rest of their lives.
As the father you will need to step up and make the unemotional decision, not the decision of your wife, nor of what fickle society currently deems to be ok, but the decision that is right for your family, and I know of no loving family that would ever extinguish the life of one of their members if they were able to keep them alive.
Sincerely, God be with you and yours.