Should Men Have a Say on Abortion?

Alabama State Representative Ed Henry recently attended a pro-life rally where he opened his heart, explaining the reasoning behind his opposition to abortion. KFOX14 has the story:

The crowd attending the annual “Pro-Life Legislative Day” in Montgomery on Thursday got a surprise when Republican Rep. Ed Henry of Hartselle talked publicly for the first time about going with his pregnant girlfriend to have an abortion. “I murdered my first child,” the freshman legislator told the stunned crowd.

Henry, R-Hartselle, came to the rally to talk about his bill that says elective abortions can’t be part of any health insurance plan offered through an insurance exchange in Alabama. The 2010 federal health care overhaul requires every state to have an exchange. He said he decided to talk about the abortion after meeting Jacquie Stalnaker of Birmingham, who told the crowd about being forced by her gun-toting boyfriend to have an abortion 25 years ago and the regret that followed.

“It ripped my heart out with the devastation these abortions cause. In ’91 I was in a similar situation where I had a girlfriend who was with child and I made a decision that I will regret — that we went and I murdered my child, my first child. I’ve never said this publicly,” he said as he choked back tears. He said the impact of it hit him several years later, when he was 30 and his wife was 12 weeks pregnant with their daughter. He recounted accompanying her for a medical checkup. “I saw that ultrasound of my baby, my child, and it came down on me like a ton of bricks that I had murdered my first child. And I will carry that with me to my grave,” he said.

“It should not be this easy for our children to kill their children. Keep fighting, please,” he told the crowd of more than 150.

Proponents of legal abortion are always telling guys that they have no say in the abortion debate. Yet abortion clearly affects men. half of those killed by abortion are male. 100% of those killed by abortion leave behind the father of a dead child. Many men are opposed to their wife or girlfriend making this “choice”. I spoke to a guy who was in this situation just recently.

On April 7 I was praying outside the Southwestern Women’s Surgery abortion business. I spoke to a young man. I asked him “is your girl in there?” He said yes. I implored him to keep his child. He told me “it’s not my choice. She decided this. I don’t like that sh**.” I told him my wife and I would adopt his child. He told me his girlfriend wouldn’t do that. And so a mere stone’s throw away from us, his child was killed and thrown into the medical waste container.

As a side note, it is worth noting that advocates of legal abortion are just fine with men speaking up about abortion – when they’re in favor of it. It’s only when they seek to voice their opposition to the practice that the “prochoice” lobby attempts to shut them down.