Pro-life men should use empathy, not convictions to decide stance on abortion | Opinion

While the Supreme Court argues about it, let’s you and I solve this problem, once and for all.

I'm doing my best to see things from your side. If abortion is murder, if a fetus is human life, we must address the underlying problem that leads to abortion, i.e., unwanted pregnancies.

Thankfully, there is a way you and I can prevent all unwanted pregnancies from occurring! We can create a future in which abortion becomes a thing of the past...

We do this by drafting legislation that mandates vasectomies for all males once they reach puberty. Before such vasectomies, young men can donate to sperm banks, preserving their seed for future child rearing.

Hear from Tennessee's Black voices: Get the weekly newsletter for powerful and critical thinking columns.

Mandatory vasectomies for young males would have many benefits. It’s a permanent, final solution. If all men of breeding age receive vasectomies, there will never again be an unwanted pregnancy, never again an abortion. And given that vasectomies are relatively non-invasive, recovery time is short, and operations are affordable, it's a small price to pay for the literal extinction of abortion.

On a societal level, this program does a lot more than just eliminate abortion! Mandatory vasectomies will provide a huge boost to the economy. We'll need vasectomy providers, sperm banks, and insemination centers.

And just as the economy surges, the welfare state will decline dramatically under this approach. Foster programs will eventually disappear—no more unwanted children given up for adoption. Tax dollars needed for welfare programs will plummet—no more young, impoverished mothers with too many babies relying on the welfare state.

And think of the children who are born. With no more unwanted pregnancies, with parents choosing to inseminate only when they are financially ready, child poverty will decline dramatically.

Think of the women. Under this program, the maiming and death of women via back-alley abortions will end. No more dead would-be moms. No more mutilated fetuses. Overall poverty rates will decline dramatically, as women will be able to get an education and improve their financial condition before having children.

Finally, think of us men. We'll never have to worry about causing unwanted pregnancies—and the 18 years of child support payments that go with them.

The benefits go on and on. Couples can now have worry-free sex, enjoy better family planning, and save money, all without concern for unwanted conception. No more “murdered fetuses,” no more unwanted pregnancies, because every pregnancy will require the retrieval of stored sperm and the woman’s consent before insemination.

This is what America looks like if we want to live in a society where we rely on the State to effectively solve the abortion problem for us.

But I ask you, do you want to live in a country where the State has that much power to control men's bodies?

Do you want your sons to live under such a system?

No?

If the thought of state-mandated vasectomy makes men like us squirm in our seats, why would we consent to state-mandated births or state-controlled uteruses?

Or should you and I instead advocate for a society in which Americans—male and female alike—have autonomy over their bodies, make their own reproductive decisions, and control their own destinies?

I'll leave it to you to draw the obvious conclusion.

Ren Brabenec is a writer and addiction expert in Cheatham County.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Pro-life men must understand the immoral control abortion law has on women