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Men, Power and Reproductive Freedom
I was in a bit of a state of shock when I arrived
at work to find out someone had tried to burn my
office down. A neighbor had called the fire
department and everything was under control with no
substantial damage done by the time I arrived. Why
would someone do something like that?
It was l985 in the USA, at the beginning of
President Ronald Reagan’s second term in
office. I was a Director of Information and
Education at a Planned Parenthood affiliate
providing low cost voluntary family planning
services to those least able to afford it, both
women and men. Among other duties, I had been hired
to specifically address how teen boys could be
supported to take responsibility for their role in
teen pregnancy as well as to foster healthy
father-son relationships that included
conversations about taking that responsibility.
Though the bulk of Planned Parenthood and my
mission was to educate people about their
individual and private choices, I was well aware of
the controversy over abortion services—and
that is what had flames licking the siding below my
office window.
When people feel powerless, they are at risk of
being manipulated and can sometimes be driven to
desperate measures to draw attention to what they
feel is wrong, not just for them, but everyone.
Ever since the l973 U.S. Supreme Court decision
supporting women’s right to choose whether or
not to end a pregnancy in consultation with their
physician was put in place, there have been those
who have attempted to reverse that decision, in any
way they possibly can think of, at any cost to
others.
Uniquely in the USA for many decades now this
issue has been used by politicians to curry favor
for themselves or denigrate others by playing on
the strong emotions of a minority of voters. We are
currently seeing the latest version of a strategy
to divide and conquer with Planned Parenthood again
being used as a convenient target for an angst that
is continually inflamed both by people with strong
personal convictions and beliefs and others that
simply see abortion controversy as a political
football to keep in the air for political gain and
power. That is why you will see many seeking or in
political office waver in their opinions or support
for reproductive choice. They are attempting to see
which way the political winds are blowing with
particular constituencies before they take a clear
stand.
Unfortunately, playing political games with the
lives of women, men and families in need of high
quality reproductive health care undermines both
the health and freedom of hundreds of thousands who
have have come to rely on Planned Parenthood for
safe, reliable and effective means for making their
own private choices about when and how many
children they will have. It is always important to
remember that for some, when they cross the
threshold of a clinic it may be their first access
to health screening for cancer and other services
associated with primary health care that person
might not otherwise receive.
I’d like to think this drama will stop
repeating itself in my lifetime and political
machinery will no longer benefit by the constant
flame fanning of this divisive issue. I’ve no
investment in changing people’s strong
convictions about when life begins or their choices
about their own pregnancy, the consequences of
which are shared by both women and men.
I do know that when men in particular (along
with women) feel they have the right to determine
other individuals and families life choices, they
are not merely hypocrites maintaining they are
committed to individual freedom, they support those
desperate ones who lit fire to my office. If not
explicitly they implicitly condone acts of terror
against their own country men and women. Now well
into the 21st century anti-abortion violence has
actually remained a consistent, if secondary,
source of domestic terrorism and violence,
manifesting itself most often in assaults and
vandalism, with occasional arsons, bombings,
drive-by shootings, and assassination attempts.
Acts of terror don't arise in only one culture or
religion nor from an aberrant gene. This violence,
like other forms, is committed by those who have
become emotionally isolated, lost touch with their
own humanity or are manipulated into believing that
denying others their right to liberty and the
pursuit of their own happiness, is a threat to
their way of life, when it clearly is not. They are
acting out their own personal powerlessness.
On another plane of view, I can see how these
continued threats to individual freedom serve a
purpose as they bring more into the open both the
shadow and light of power and powerlessness. They
provide an opportunity for men of honor to declare
themselves allies to not just women, but to
themselves and their own core values, their
authentic and true personal power.
During this political season and era, consider
telling Planned Parenthood what a fine job they
have done for you or anyone you’ve known lucky
enough to cross the threshold of one of their many
welcoming clinics. Support those political leaders
who are true public servants that understand the
critical importance of taking a stand for the
health and wellbeing of all American families and
the funding that makes that possible. And for those
readers living elsewhere than the US, remember that
the International Planned Parenthood Federation
supports many programs on all continents, making a
healthy difference for those women and men
attempting to take charge of and make better lives
for themselves and their families.
©2015, Randy
Crutcher
* * *
Randy
Crutcher has over three decades of experience as a
teacher, counselor, and community
organizer/builder. He is a personal and
professional development coach, facilitator, and
consultant to both large institutions and small
organizations in the public, private, and
non-profit sectors. He has done extensive work with
men and boys to become all they can be having
opened one of the first state grant funded
men’s counseling center’s in America. He
developed programs to assist men in learning
alternatives to violence, father and son workshops
and gatherings.
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