MARIANNE Taylor’s article ("Time for men to stop mansplaining abortion to women", The Herald, June 4) is alarming. How odd to think that abortion is "primarily a matter for women to decide upon". Why should men not be able to offer an opinion in this? Since when did an issue which affects the whole of society only be allowed to be debated according to one’s gender? A woman who decides on her own to abort a baby is denying her partner the opportunity of fatherhood, not to mention denying grandparents and siblings their relationships with the baby who would have joined the family but for being aborted. Should a male who has produced this life never have a say about whether his partner has an abortion?
Men who take the view that there should be equal concern for the unborn baby are labelled by Ms Taylor as condescending and patronising. This declaration of discouraging free speech from half of humankind sounds condescending and patronising, not to say intolerant. I wonder if Ms Taylor, by trying to silence men in this argument is really trying to deflect discussing the ongoing concern that both men and women currently may have; that in all the celebrating of women’s rights and freedom there is a massive silence in considering how unfavourable the outcome is for the most vulnerable, voiceless group in our society – the unborn who will have no rights or freedom.
Irene Munro,
1 Wyvis Crescent, Conon Bridge.
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