by Dave Cupples

Created on: April 23, 2009

When the issue of abortion enters into a woman's pregnancy, the man should definitely have a role in the decision process. Traditionally, perhaps, abortion has most often been considered for under age, unmarried girls or at the man's insistence, but the circumstances surrounding the issue these days are more diverse. It isn't only adolescents and young adults in casual or one-time relationships that are involved. It can also become a topic of interest in any committed relationship including a marriage, and often, the man wants to be a father and it's the woman desiring to abort the pregnancy.

Regardless of the relationship, for some people the question is easy. It's the woman's body-it's her decision. But it really isn't that simple. The egg is hers and the incubator is hers, but the sperm is his; and it's more than a little disingenuous to argue finder's keepers-that he lost the sperm and she found it and should therefore be able to do whatever she wants with it. It takes two to create a life; and even if he's not actively sitting on the nest, he still has a stake in the decision.

A man can be held responsible financially. Even in a casual or one-time relationship, if the father's paternity can be proven, he can be forced to share the expenses of the pregnancy and birth and the support of the child. In a committed relationship or marriage, he can be saddled with eighteen years (or more) of fatherly responsibility. And even if mom is happy to go it alone and the man has no concern and no interest at the time of conception, that could change. Opinions, morality and law all change over time, and it's even possible that the fetus will grow into a person who will seek financial or fatherly support on his or her own in the future; so a man has a need as well as a right to be involved in the decision at the time of conception.

Protecting himself isn't the only reason that a man might want to be involved in the decision. Some men want to play an active part in the life of their offspring. One of these future dads might feel that the child will share some of his genetic qualities or personality traits and that his experience and guidance will be essential for the child's success. If a man feels strongly about this but is not yet ready for the responsibility of fatherhood, it's understandable that he would want the woman to abort.

Supporters of a woman's unilateral right to decide might argue that if the man feels that way, he should have thought of it before he got the

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