Where are the fathers?

I had the opportunity to break bread with a man of about 24, whose girlfriend had an abortion. He had begged her not to-he wanted to raise the child, to be a father...to take responsibility for his actions.

I hold this in contrast to another young man who identified as "pro-choice". When asked what he would do if he got a girl pregnant and she refused to abort, he said "I'd leave the country, change my name...anything to avoid having to pay for it!". When questioned about a vasectomy, he asked "why should I have to do all that?".

The first man is a MAN. The second will never be anything more than a boy.

On Facebook there is a group called "I bet I can find 1,000,000 men against abortion". The description is heartening:

GENTLEMEN: We must stand strong in the defense of innocent pre-born babies. Real men defend and protect their children- that is THE core of what it means to be a man.

Men do not need to be given the right to stand against abortion, because we already have a RESPONSIBILITY to do so. We have been oppressed for long enough as it pertains to asserting the our rights as fathers in protecting our children.

The time to act is NOW.

This will offend some pro-choice feminists, I'm sure--a common argument is that as men will never get pregnant, they shouldn't get a say in abortion rights. This argument completely and utterly discredits the feelings, emotions, and connections that men have to their offspring. Are these women all dating boys, I wonder?

In the next few days I'll be posting about how I went from being pro-choice to pro-life, and the mistakes I made myself.