November 5, 2024
I’ll just cut to the chase. In the past several weeks, I’ve been told about a half dozen times by both men and women that I shouldn’t contribute to any conversation on abortion because of my gender. Never mind the fact that my own government in the state of Missouri is asking for my position on abortion (Amendment 3); according to these people my duty as a man is to remain sidelined from the conversation. So, do these people have a point? Should men remain silent on abortion?
No.
They do not have a point.
There are at least four critical assumptions made by the assertion that men should remain silent. These assumptions are unjustified, and therefore, should be dismissed.
Assumption 1: We know what a woman is.
Now, before you accuse me of being silly, keep in mind that we have a sitting Supreme Court Justice who refused to answer this question at her confirmation hearing. Claiming that only women can speak about abortion assumes that we know what a woman is, but many of the same people who make this assertion have also said that being a woman is only subjectively understood. In fact, I’ve been told in no uncertain terms that men can also get pregnant. It is a fundamental incoherence.
Assumption 2: Abortion doesn’t affect men.
Assuming that we know what a woman is, the belief is that abortion is none of a man’s business because, after all, men cannot get pregnant. They don’t have to deal with the consequences of pregnancy, so they shouldn’t voice their opinion on a woman’s choice to terminate that pregnancy. Basically, men should mind their own business. But of course abortion does affect men unless we are operating under the belief that a man has nothing at all to do with a pregnancy.
This assumption contributes to a cultural climate where men are excused from responsibility. This assumption infantilizes men. This is one of the unspoken harms of abortion toward women. Abortion tells men that they have no obligations and no expectations. Abortion allows men to use women for the gratification of their bodies and then simply walk away. Abortion stifles the creation of virtue in men. Indeed, this is the “gift” that abortion has been giving us since the 1970s.
“Abortion allows men to use women for the gratification of their bodies and then simply walk away.”
Assumption 3: Women have monolithic views on abortion (or at least they should).
This assertion typically comes from pro-choice men and women who are making an underlying assumption that all women are (or should be) pro-choice. The problem is that pro-life women exist. There are millions of them. These pro-life women are a messy inconvenience for those who make this assertion.
Assumption 4: Moral realism is false.
Those who make the assertion that men should remain silent on abortion are assuming that moral truths are determined by one’s perspectives and experiences. Moral realism is the belief that moral truths are real features of the world. In other words, moral truths (goodness, justice, etc.) exist objectively. As such, we can make judgments based on observation.
Experience isn’t needed to make moral observations. I don’t need to have suffered from injustice in order to know that injustice is wrong. I don’t need to have suffered from abuse in order to know that abuse is wrong.
“I don’t need to have suffered from injustice in order to know that injustice is wrong.”
Now, I know what the immediate objection will be. Doesn’t experience give us a way of “knowing” that is unavailable to those who haven’t had the experience? Yes! I agree. A parent knows more of parenting than a non-parent. An African-American male may know more about police injustice than I do. And a woman does know what it is to be pregnant in ways that I can’t even imagine. Do these perspectives give us insights that others don’t have? Again, yes. But do these perspectives make moral judgments impossible without experience? Absolutely not.
Think about what you’re saying. You’re saying that as a white man I can’t talk about the injustice of racism because I haven’t experienced it. Not too many people would be bold enough to embrace that level of moral unrealism. Experience may add to knowledge, but it is not the sole possessor of knowledge. In fact, our perspectives and experiences notoriously blind and bind us to reality. In other words, experience can give us knowledge, but it can just as easily make us ignorant.
So, back to the issue of abortion. There are things about pregnancy and being a woman that I will never fully understand, but that does not at all mean that a moral judgment on the goodness or badness of abortion becomes impossible for me or any man. I mean, would you tell a single man that he has to be silent about the way a husband treats his wife just because the single man isn’t married?
“Would you tell a single man that he has to be silent about the way a husband treats his wife just because the single man isn’t married?”
Now, of course we should be compassionate and loving. We should listen to the stories of women—those who have had abortions and those who have chosen not to. No one should be bullied out of an important conversation. But let’s call this assertion what it is. It is not an argument; it is a tactic. It is a tactic meant to stifle dissenting opinions. Men who are pro-choice are encouraged to speak up. Men who are pro-life are told to shut up.
From chadragsdale.wordpress.com. Used with permission.
