Help a fellow dad - abortion and the rights of a father?

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.

Medical correctness

Kevin of illeatyouup.com recently posted a good article summarising his thoughts on their doctor's suggestion to go for an amniocentesis. It resonated with me as we had a similar case in our circle of friends where doctors AND midwives talked about the unborn baby as if it was almost certain that it would have down syndrome (because the mum was 40 and neucal fold came back with a risk of 1 in 24). Sometimes I wonder if doctors and midwives are aware of this? Perhaps it is more showing their preferences than anything else.

Anyway here is Kevin's original post which I'm re-blogging here with his permission.

-Stef

Doctor Negligence?

This is something that has been on my mind ever since our last ultrasound on January 8th. I wanted to write about it in hopes that I could compose my thoughts and also get insight from others who may have had similar experiences.

The effects of Abortion on men

This is from a Catholic newspaper of which I believe it’s important to hear both sides of the story. I haven’t personally had any dealings with an abortion from a fathers point of view, but what I do believe in is making decisions that are right for you and your partner at the time. If this is committing something that other people feel very strongly against such as abortion – as this can be a very heated topic then so be it.

If you have been through abortion as a male please let me know what your experiences were like!!

- Scott

“Forgotten piece of the equation”
San Francisco conference to examine effects of abortion on men

A conference that promotes itself as the “first to focus on the effects of abortion on men” will be held Nov. 28-29 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco.