In late June, Daniel A. Collier faced a dilemma as the Roe v. Wade case reversed and the future of abortion in Tennessee was uncertain.
The 42-year-old assistant professor of higher education at the University of Memphis and his wife are traveling for their third pregnancy. But it wasn’t easy — his wife had had two miscarriages before.
Researchers and abortion rights advocates say more The impact of strict abortion laws primarily affects pregnant women and their ability to choose whether to go ahead with their pregnancy, but their partners can also be affected. According to a 2019 article in the peer-reviewed Journal of Adolescent Health, young men whose partners had abortions had higher academic achievement and higher socioeconomic outcomes compared to their peers who became teenage fathers status. Teenage fathers tend to enter the workforce earlier, taking low-paying jobs, the study found. Oren Jacobson, co-founder and co-executive director of Men4Choice, a nonprofit advocating for abortion rights, said: “In the context of healthy relationships, decisions about whether and when to have children are It’s a decision made by the couple.” The group aims to encourage more men to take an active role in its mission to support abortion rights as partners and allies. “When my partner can have her reproductive decisions controlled by the state, it means the state can control how we plan our families,” Jacobson told MarketWatch. The group has regular group conversations with young people. Jacobson said it was designed to help them understand issues around reproductive rights, health and justice, especially what losing access to abortion means for families. Men also have interests as partners, he said. He said one of the things they discussed was debunking the “myth” that most people had abortions because they were “young and reckless.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most people who have abortions are in their 20s and already have children. In 2014, almost half of abortion patients lived below the poverty line, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. “In many cases, [the decision to seek an abortion] is not primarily about lifestyle choices, but economic choices,” Jacobson said.
Regardless of where people stand on the political and legal fronts, one thing is clear: There were more than 600,000 legal abortions in the U.S. in 2019, according to the Pew Research Center, which aggregates data. From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision in June, multiple medical institutions reported a sharp increase in the number of men contacting them for vasectomy, a sterilization procedure that may or may not be a male Permanent birth control that cuts the tube that carries sperm.
Brian Nguyen, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Southern California, specializes in research The relationship between men and their partners’ reproductive health, he said, following the ruling, more men had become interested in male contraception. Men and women tend to be on the same page when it comes to reasons for continuing abortions, Nguyen said. Whether they’re white-collar or blue-collar, their reasons usually include career, finances, and timing: either they already have a family, or they’re not ready to start one. Nguyen said: “In many cases, people talk about abortion being critical to their careers, and without it, they wouldn’t be where they are now.” Scholars noted that few There are cisgender men who openly share their abortion experiences, not to mention how their abortion experiences have affected them or changed the trajectory of their lives. Nguyen said he hopes there will be an equal space and movement for men to share their partners’ abortion experiences in a positive light. “Because of the stigma of abortion, men don’t want to talk about it,” Nguyen said. “So what we ended up with was a biased depiction of men’s abortion experience.” For Collier, the decision to move state would severely impact his career. “It’s a highly competitive career field to be a tenured professor. It’s hard to get these jobs,” he said. “It’s hard to get tenure, and it’s hard to maintain productive research.” Fortunately, the Colliers live a few hours from the Illinois border where abortion is legal. But if they were faced with an imminent move, Collier said he would apply for fewer places. “But,” he added, “my wife’s health is more important than my career.”
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