I define Father as a male who either deliberately procreated with the hopeful goal of bringing a new life into the world or who identified with and accepted as his own a new life after the fact. Given this definition, a donor could conceivably fall into this category. In addition, the phrase “some say” needs further definition. If we are referring to legal grounds to prevent an abortion, the answer is complicated and beyond my capability to determine other than to say that I would not be surprised to see such legal wording in the book somewhere in this country.
There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that a pregnant women bears the sole physical and emotional burden of bringing a new life into the world regardless of any claims to the contrary. What I am concerned about is the initial decision, if such a decision was ever considered by either party, to bring about the pregnancy in the first place.
I can think of innumerable scenarios, lack of knowledge, rape, impaired judgement, reliance on faulty or otherwise contraceptive devices of practices for example, that would mitigate the existence or effectiveness of that decision process.
I can’t imagine what the real statistics of unwanted or, to coin a phrase, surprise pregnancies might be, but I would assert without fear of embarrassment that those statistics are very high. Given that, this discussion becomes a bit more complex.
Abortion, in and of itself, is one of the most controversial issues on the table today and I suggest that controversy will remain unresolved for some time to come. One notable fact to underline is that a discussion of abortion per se or, as we are now doing, a discussion of the particular rights of the participants when the decision to abort a pregnancy is on the table, is inherently after the fact.
If I were to take that lightly, it would imply that I have taken for granted that casual intercourse is a common occurrence in our society, as is rape, and we must therefore accept the concomitant need to handle the abortion of the resulting unwanted or surprise children.
This doesn’t include the abortions initiated by parents who discover that they have not created the gender they hoped for or, sadly, that their child will be born with a disability.
Whatever the reason, however the issue of abortion came to the table, the father has a part in and a responsibility for the decision to abort a pregnancy. The impact of that decision on everyone involved will depend on the values of the culture in which it occured and can, as we know, be life changing for the mother, the father and, without doubt, everyone else related to or otherwise involved in the situation.
If I were asked to draw a single conclusion from consideration of this question, it would be to use all the means necessary to avoid a situation where abortion is a required consideration.
This implies education in all aspects of sexuality and behavior as soon as it can be delivered by persons qualified to do so, and to do so with respect for the religious diversity relative to this matter, to sexuality itself and to the issue of birth control.
The sooner that young people have a grasp of the parameters, the better the chance that abortion will never become an issue. What is paramount in those discussions is the unavoidable responsibility every person must accept for their sexual conduct.