To be clear straight off the bat, I feel it is important that I highlight that this post is not in reference to nor supporting of restricting nor removing any women’s reproductive rights nor rights to bodily autonomy; it is exclusively in relation to men’s rights on these matters, or more specifically lack there of.

Of equal significance, I also feel it is important that I confirm that I’m very much a pro choice advocate and I was as extremely disappointed as any feminist, with the Supreme Court’s decision for the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

A woman’s right to choose is the global standard for countries in the developed World, which has created quite a unique position for the US to have taken. Putting any feelings on the principles of that matter aside briefly, it’s important to remember that the Supreme Court hasn’t made abortion illegal; it has simply given decision making powers to local legislators. As frustrating as you may feel this fundamentally is; there are still numerous legal loopholes, allowing American women an opportunity to access abortion services, such as travelling across state lines if necessary.

Even with the aforementioned considered, the feminist claim of women not having equal reproductive rights is in fact completely accurate; as in fact women have far more reproductive rights than men.

A woman has the right to decide whether she has the maturity, financial, or emotional resources to bring a pregnancy to term, in the developed world even in the US across state lines.

Men however have never enjoyed the right to decide whether to become a father, and are legally responsible to financially support any biological children.

Men who may not have chosen to be a father, suffer inequality as that choice is not a legally recognised choice; they are instead forced by law into fatherhood against their will, resulting in a financial responsibility and legal obligation to pay child support. The option of a paper/financial abortion would therefore better reflect equality for men who don’t want a child, when a woman still decides to proceed with bringing a pregnancy to term, regardless of his wishes.

Additionally in many jurisdictions, despite the forced upon financial responsibility, unmarried men have no shared authority and face an uphill battle to claim paternity or even prevent their own children from being adopted against their own wishes, should the mother decide to do so. A side note; mothers who give up their children for adoption, do not retain an enforced financial responsibility for their children, equal to that of fathers.

The poorest men of society and men of color, are at a particular disadvantage, since they are far more likely not be married to their children's mothers, and do not benefit from paternity presumptions automatically granted to married men.

It gets no better, after a divorce or separation. Despite the legally enforced financial responsibility, dads struggle to gain equal custody, equal parenting time with their children, nor an equal share of authority on decisions of their children’s upbringing, such as educational matters and medical decisions.

As a pro-choice advocate, I support a woman’s right to not have to be unwillingly forced into motherhood; as I do equally support a man’s right to not have to be unwillingly forced into fatherhood. Unfortunately, it is only the latter that is universally enforced legally regardless of a man’s choice. Unlike the silence around a man’s right to choose which is not up for political debate; the former, a woman’s rights to choose is in most part widely accepted globally in the developed World, or in the case of the US, is in a constant state of legislative discourse and of note, is not illegal in the US, allowing access to cross state abortion services where needed.

I fully support a woman’s right to bodily autonomy; as in fact I do for men in equal part. An individual’s bodily autonomy or lack thereof is not a uniquely female experience, regardless of widespread public discourse talking of nothing but.

Men also don’t have rights to their own bodily autonomy; in fact there could be strong arguments that men have far less rights to their own body than women do, in almost all of the world, inclusive of all developed countries, developing countries and the least developed countries. Three such examples would be;

  1. ⁠Forced Military Conscription/Military Draft. A Man Can be Forced to Have Their Body Unwillingly Used for Warfare; With Significant Risk of Death, Serious Physical Disabilities and Lifelong Trauma From Mental Health Issues Such as PTSD.

  2. ⁠Circumcision of New Born Boys by Unnecessarily Removing the Foreskin of a Baby’s Penis Without Any Medical Reasoning, is a Barbaric Practice of Genital Mutilation, and is an Act Directly Contrary to That Individual’s Right to Choose.

  3. ⁠The Incarceration for Failure to Pay a Financial Debt Breaches International Human Rights Laws, However on Average 50,000 Men in the US Alone, Are Incarcerated Daily for Child Support Debt and in Most Instances, for a legitimate Inability to Pay Due to Genuine Poverty.