Sadness, guilt and regret: Study shows abortion can also have long-term effects on men

By zoeysky // 2023-05-19

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A new study has found that abortion can also affect men, a demographic that is often ignored in the conversation about this issue. The results of a study commissioned by a nonprofit group revealed that the mental health of men suffers due to abortion.

Fathers left unable to advocate for their unborn children

According to the April 2023 National Men's Abortion Study, which was commissioned and published by "Support After Abortion" (SAA), a Florida-based organization, the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade was celebrated by feminists as "a major victory for women's rights." However, the fathers of preborn babies were left without "any right to advocate for the children they helped conceive." (Related: Susan Swift condemns woke narrative that abortion is “healthcare” and “necessary to save women.”) The study revealed that at least 71 percent of the respondents reported an "adverse change" after their partners underwent abortion. In a white paper outlining the study's findings, Support After Abortion Men's Task Force member Greg Mayo explained that the majority of men "suffer some negative impact from their abortion experiences." His personal grief and trauma related to past abortion experiences started his advocacy. Mayo, a respected author and speaker, noted that some would-be fathers "are deeply impacted by abortion, regardless of their personal views or whether or not they had a voice in the decision." The 71 percent of respondents who said they experienced an "adverse change" after the abortion decision were separated into two groups:

31 percent pro-choice-identifying
40 percent pro-life-identifying

According to Mayo, the pain men experience can manifest in different ways, just like with any grief or trauma. The men who participated in the study reported various emotions, such as:

Anger
Anxiety
Depression
Emptiness
Guilt
Regret
Sadness
A sense of lost fatherhood
Substance abuse
Thoughts of what could have been

"Because the societal conversation surrounding abortion is primarily about women, men's grief is often disenfranchised," added Mayo.

The "disenfranchised grief" of men

Mayo, who experienced abortion loss in 1988 and 1992, said that he "had no say in either decision." He added that at the time, not a lot of people were talking about "abortion healing," particularly for men like him. According to Mayo, his healing was sadly delayed when a therapist told him that his pain caused by the two abortions probably "wasn't a thing." The therapist also suggested that his family history could be linked to his feelings and behavior, not the abortions. This feeling among men has been called "disenfranchised grief," and men who experience it will often question their feelings and ask themselves: "Is it really a thing?" or "Do I really feel this?" Dr. Mary C. Lamia, who has written about the idea of "disenfranchised grief," explained that whether you are pro-choice or pro-life doesn't matter when you think of the many complicated feelings people have when abortion is being discussed. Lamia added that men often don't say that they have feelings about abortion because that could be interpreted as the men not supporting the choice of the woman or pro-choice beliefs in general. She thinks that "not having a say gets confused with not having emotions." While men don't undergo abortions themselves, not having a say about the often debated issue doesn't mean they don't have emotions about it. Unfortunately, there could be many men who think that it is not "appropriate to announce how they feel." Lisa Rowe, SAA CEO and a licensed clinical social worker, commented that in her experience serving vulnerable populations over the past two decades, the mental effects of abortion are also rarely talked about among women, and less among men. However, she also noticed that men do not always want to discuss their pain. According to Rowe, people are often detached from "the humanity of the issue" because they have heard the "my body, my choice" message their whole lives. However, she believes that SAA can help since the group aims to "bring compassion to the conversation beyond speaking about abortion as a political or a religious issue." As for Mayo, he said the study was conducted to help validate other men who have also gone through what he experienced. He also wants to help other men understand that they are not alone in the way they feel. As Mayo started learning about abortion recovery and talking to men's groups, he realized that there was "a really, really big need in this country to get men out of the darkness, so to speak, to get them talking about their abortion experience and then to help them find healing." Mayo believes that various data points validate his experience, which affects millions of men that may also need help. In the study, 45 percent of the men reported that they did not have a voice or choice in their partner's abortion decision. Almost three out of five men (57 percent), said they did not make the decision. According to Mayo, he has heard many similar stories regardless of someone's race, economics, demographics or political views. While some experience emotional pain around an abortion immediately, it can take several years before other men can feel their pain, which can eventually cause emotional distress and "lasting feelings of loss and grief," said the researchers. According to Mayo, many men will go to therapy for substance abuse or porn addictions. But after talking to their therapists, they soon realize that the "trigger" to their problem was an abortion. Visit Abortions.news to read more articles about how abortions affect both men and women. Watch the video below to find out why abortion is about murder, not women's rights. This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.

CITIZENS NEWS

Fathers left unable to advocate for their unborn children

The "disenfranchised grief" of men

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