Men are entitled to have opinion on abortion as they play equal part in upholding core values of society

FIONOLA Meredith (Comment, October 11) generously allows men to hold private opinions on abortion.

Few people break free from gravity to travel in space, but no one avoids the grounding force of absolute morality.

Every meaningful moral system is centred in the same core values. CS Lewis considered this theme in a tiny paperback pamphlet, The Abolition of Man.

Fionola has a problem with “men who actively lobby against a woman’s right to choose”. Men vote. Men attend vigils. Men attend rallies. Men legislate. Men administer law. Men are employed in the media. Men procreate. Millions of unborn male children are aborted.

Anyone can legitimately lobby against the death penalty in the US. They do not need to be male, poor, black or even a US citizen.

A person does not have to be female, or fertile, to firmly express an opinion on abortion.

The electric chair and the abortion clinic offend, because each human life is precious.

Successful movies like Dead Man Walking, or Unplanned, engage our emotion and our reason. Choice, doing good, avoiding harm, fairness, autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice are pillars of ethics.

Autonomy (choice) can never make a stand-alone foundation for abortion reproductive rights, because there is “autonomy by proxy”, or acting in a vulnerable person’s best interest, when that person is unable to exercise choice (eg the unborn).

One evocative word captures the essence of this: “parenting”; where male and female gel to produce and nurture a new person.

OBSERVER

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