The pro-life community has been saying for decades that abortion hurts women by making them victims of abusive men, predatory men, and just plain lousy men. It exploits women and benefits those lousy, criminal men. It places women — and often underage girls — under the control of men who want to use them, sexually traffic them, abandon them, and eliminate all evidence of their crime.

Abortion benefits jerks who want to be able to use women without consequence.

Now that Roe is history, legal abortion is on state ballots again, and the Democrats are vowing to make it a federal law. And suddenly, the quiet part is being said out loud.

In 2022, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez candidly remarked that men are also adversely impacted by the patriarchy,” adding that “they, too, benefit from the advancement of women’s rights, like the right to abortion.”

“For almost every woman that has gotten an abortion, there’s a man who has either been affected or liberated by that abortion too,” she said.

(“Almost every woman.” Almost? Ohhkay, AOC.)

Be Free! Kill the Kid!

Liberated by abortion. Those words make for quite a slogan, eh? Men are liberated by the deliberate killing of their children. Liberated by the termination of their child and their natural, moral obligations toward him or her.

Set free! Off the hook! It’s her body, her choice, and I’m outta here. What a display of manhood!

This July, while expressing his support for Kamala Harris, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg plainly admitted that abortion is “necessary” for men. “But, of course, men are also more free in a country where we have a president who stands up for things like access to abortion care,” he

Why “more free,” Pete? Free to do what? Yeah, we both know what.

It’s now acceptable to point out that men (at least the ones who are scoundrels/cowards/criminals) benefit from abortion and to argue that it’s necessary for their personal freedom.

We’ve progressed from arguing that women’s freedom depends on being able to kill their unborn babies to now making the same argument for men. Apparently, nobody at all can be free unless babies can be killed.

Equal Treatment

I hate to say that AOC and Buttigieg have a good point, but they do. There’s a lopsidedness to the efforts to defeat abortion that must be corrected.

Mothers are not made by fairy dust. They’re made in cooperation with the men who are now fathers.

Abortion is very much a man’s concern because pregnancy isn’t “a woman’s” problem. By all means, let’s continue to be there for pregnant women with the tangible support and love they need. And also, let’s grab the microphones we’ve used for decades to make ourselves heard outside the Supreme Court and direct that volume toward the other half of this equation: men.

They don’t get to walk away. They don’t get to go on with life as though they didn’t make a baby. They don’t get to be free of the responsibility of their children. They aren’t relieved of their obligation to the mothers of their children. They aren’t allowed to use women’s bodies and leave them with “no choice” but to commit violence in order to be “free.”

When will we start saying this plainly to boys and men about sex? We must start telling them in absolute terms that when they engage in sexual intercourse with a girl or a woman, they are agreeing to take responsibility for her and the child that may result. Every. Single. Time.

Perhaps the guy who made this tweet thought he was making an outrageous point, but by golly, he’s got it!

Chastity and Marriage Are the Way

When will we teach young men that they are, in fact, capable of chastity? They are, believe it or not, able to say no to their physical desires by an act of self-control? They can, amazingly enough, exercise their will properly and understand the consequences of their actions?

Men, women aren’t there for your pleasure. They are the ones you must care for, protect, and for whom you will provide. The child you help create is your responsibility. You don’t want all that “burden”? Then keep your pants on and your hands to yourself.

Men care for women. Men care for children. Men take responsibility for their families. Men do not abandon women and console themselves by saying, “It’s her choice.”

This is the kind of talk that needs to take center stage now. Christian pastors and leaders, if you are not saying this loudly and consistently, that’s a problem. If you’re not looking your young men in the eye and telling them that sex makes babies — which is why God commands that marriage comes first — and they are not exempted from God’s commands, you are failing them and feeding the abortion mentality.

We must rebuild a culture of marriage and family if we ever hope to see an end to legal abortion. It should be unthinkable to every decent man and woman that a child must die so adults can be “free.”

Jennifer Hartline is a senior contributor to The Stream. You can follow her at @jenniehartline.