Male Role is Frequently Crucial in Abortion Decision.(Statistical Data Included)

According to the U.S. Supreme Court, whether he is a husband or boyfriend, the father has no legal right even to be notified prior to his wife or girlfriend obtaining an abortion. The High Court has taken the position that abortion is exclusively a woman's issue; the woman is to be treated as an autonomous decision-maker. Thus, she not only has a legal right to make the decision on her own, it is assumed that input of husbands or boyfriends is of little importance.

This could not be farther from the truth, both in point of law and as an understanding of the situation a woman in a crisis pregnancy is facing. In truth, the father's attitude is frequently crucial in determining whether a woman has an abortion or carries to term.

If the father is hostile or appears indifferent to the pregnancy, then the risk of abortion is substantially increased because the woman perceives that she is abandoned. If the father provides both emotional and economic support for the pregnancy, particularly in a marriage, then the likelihood of abortion is substantially decreased.

For example, anthropologist George Devereux, in his study of 400 pre-industrial societies published in 1955, concluded that "female attitudes towards maternity appeared to be determined by the masculine attitude towards paternity--even where children were valued and fertile women were esteemed."

Closer to home, Teri Reisser, a post-abortion counselor in Southern California, has stated, "It is my experience in post-abortion counseling that most women desperately needed their partner to demonstrate a reassuring attitude that everything would work out, that the destruction of a baby who was the product of their lovemaking was out of the question, and that he would protect and care for her and the child."

Interestingly, pro-abortion sources offer evidence that supports this interpretation. In a 1987 study by the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), it was found that the quality of the relationship with the child's father and whether or not economic support was available were important factors in abortion decision-making.

In this study, published in Family Planning Perspectives, women were asked for the reasons they sought an abortion. Some 23% said their husband or partner wanted her to have an abortion, 68% said they can't afford a baby now, and 51% said they have problems with a relationship or want to avoid single parenthood.