Should Men Have Abortion Rights?

The youth wing of Sweden’s Liberal Party want men to have the right to “legally abort” their unborn babies, right up until the 18th week of pregnancy, which is the cut-off time for physical abortions there.

They want “male abortion” to be a legal decision, not a physical one, allowing unwilling fathers to relinquish all their parental rights and responsibilities for their unborn child.  Not only would they have no rights to see their child in the future, but under this plan they could also be absolved of all financial responsibility.

The group’s chairman, Marcus Nilsen, told Aftonbladet newspaper: “Men should have an equal right to opt out of parenting and choose whether or not to become a parent.”

“There are endless examples of men who can’t even say whether they want to be involved in parenthood or how involved they want to be. It is important that men remain honest with themselves and their intentions,” he said.

The controversial proposal was promptly shot down by the Swedish Liberal Party’s head office. The youth wing of the Swedish Libs has proposed other radical policies in the past: they have also wanted Sweden to legalise necrophilia and consensual incest-  both of which never got off the ground.

The argument that men should have “abortion rights” is one that periodically gets trodden out – usually it involves men who want to dictate to a woman that she HAS to have an abortion or she CANNOT abort his foetus.

The reality here is that it does take two to tango. If you choose to have sex with someone and you don’t use contraception, there is a risk she might get pregnant. If you don’t want to be a father, explore one of the many contraception options out there like condoms or even a vasectomy.

Yes, not all contraception is 100% effective. That’s the risk you take when you have sex.  Yes, it can completely suck for the guy who finds himself having to pay child support for 18 years to someone he’s no longer in a relationship with or had a one night stand with. But again, that’s the risk that you run when you have sex.

The Swedish Young Libs’ proposal is inherently flawed because it gives douchebags the green light to change their mind about a pregnancy that they very well might have agreed to in the first place, right up until 18 weeks.

“Yes I’ll have a baby with you! Let’s try to conceive. Oh soz, now you’re 17.5 weeks along this doesn’t suit me anymore because, reasons. I am going to opt out, you’re on your own.”   Yeah, whatever.

Sweden is a country that is considered to be quite progressive, and it overwhelmingly supports abortion. The youth wing of the Liberal Party claimed that male abortion is a feminist policy, which seems quite absurd. They are of the opinion that their proposal would see equality for the sexes, allowing expectant mothers to know whether the father of the baby is prepared to support their child.

I’m firmly of the opinion that men can have abortion rights once they have wombs, then they can abort (or not abort) whatever they want out of themselves.

A physical abortion – where a pregnant woman has her pregnancy terminated – is different on so many levels to the “legal” abortion option of just saying you don’t want to support your kid. This CANNOT be equal. It can’t. Until men have wombs and can carry a foetus inside them that they have removed in an invasive medical procedure, there will never be equality here.

Do you think men should be granted with the same abortion rights as women?