This piece was originally published by Newsweek.
In the 10 months since the Supreme Court‘s Dobbs v. Jackson decision overturned Roe v. Wade, perhaps the only point of bipartisan agreement on abortion has been that men must take more responsibility for their children. For example, after Dobbs, abortion advocate and filmmaker Ken Olin told his 280,000 Twitter followers that men should be “financially on the hook from the moment of conception.” His replies quickly filled up with conservative pundits voicing their agreement and a few months later, Republican lawmakers, including Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), introduced a bill that would require such financial obligations.
It’s important that our culture and laws support pregnant women and their children, including by holding disengaged fathers accountable. But it’s also important that we recognize other men in the abortion conversation: men whose opportunity to take responsibility for their children was ended by abortion and men whose support for an abortion left them dealing with regret, shame, and other lasting effects.