Whose Choice Anyway

I The Players (continued) Men Those who maintain that abortion is purely a 'woman's issue' do women no service.

It allows men to evade their responsibilities; and without changes in male attitudes women will not be truly liberated.

Men are often the problem. It is frequently men who put the pressure on women to have an abortion. After her bruising experience Sara Keays wrote: 'Is it not interesting that you never hear of unmarried fathers, only unmarried mothers; or of men having illegitimate children, only women; that you do not hear of fallen men, only fallen women?'

There is no male equivalent to a slag. Our critical language and attitudes are based on double standards.

Without an appreciation of the role of men, power, and domination, the feminist critique can become a caricature of the unthinking analysis put forward by many men. The macho 'masculine ethic' is as wrong-headed as the concept of abortion as purely a 'woman's issue'. By maintaining that it is purely a 'woman's issue', women marginalise an issue that affects everyone, and allow men off the hook.

Furthermore, by opposing the rights of another oppressed group - disabled people pro-abortion women line themselves up with the powerful and replace a 'masculine ethic' which discriminates against women with a 'normality ethic' which aborts the disabled.

Men are an essential part of the problem and must be part of the solution.

The incident which was described earlier of the man in the Manchester meeting who said that he would have been the 'victim' of the Bill illustrates what is meant.

His concern was that he would not have been able to 'persuade' his girlfriend to have a late abortion if the Abortion (Amendment) Bill had been in effect. What does that say about that man's attitudes? Quite a lot. Did he care for her feelings, or the life they had conceived? Was he really so selfish that only his convenience mattered?