Research reveals man’s sense of grief and helplessness in response to woman’s abortion
By Randall K. O’Bannon, NRL Director of Education & Research
Editor’s note. This story appears in the October digital edition of National Right to Life News. All the stories, commentaries, President’s column, and editorials can be read at www.nrlc.org/uploads/NRLNews/NRLNewsOct2015.pdf
Research reveals man’s sense of grief and helplessness in response to woman’s abortion…
Studies on women’s negative responses to their abortions have appeared frequently over the past couple of decades. But research on men’s reactions to the abortion of their child have been harder to find.
Now, new research by Catherine T. Coyle and Vincent M. Rue appearing in the October 2015 issue of Counseling and Values offers “A Thematic Analysis of Men’s Experience With a Partner’s Elective Abortion.”
Coyle and Rue report on responses to an online survey of 89 men whose partner (wife or more often girlfriend) had undergone an abortion. The size of the sample and the manner of self-selection (it depended on men finding the website) make it difficult to make any broad statistical observations but still offers valuable experiential data.
Accounts of their experiences are compelling and heart-breaking reading. There are painful commonalities, especially among those whose input into the decision was not welcomed.
The researchers found three common themes among the men’s responses: 1) loss and grief, 2) helplessness and/or victimization, and 3) spiritual healing.
Coyle and Rue offer several examples of men expressing each of the themes. A sample of the ones on “Loss and Grief” include:
I was a father one day and not the next. She told me she had a miscarriage, then I got a call from the abortion clinic, she forgot her medication. I have never felt so awful in my life. (2 years postabortion)
I would have made an excellent father, and I feel now at my age (49) my chance has probably gone. And this makes me sad. (9 years postabortion)