Men want a platform from which to share their support. #menforchoice gives them that platform and a community of like-minded men and women to share it with.
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But the next generation has stepped in and stepped up. There’s a new movement in town and it’s called Men For Choice And The Women Who Love Them.
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There is a perception that the Pro-choice movement was dominated by wealthy, older, white women. This is not far from the truth. But the next generation has stepped in and stepped up. There’s a new movement in town and it’s called Men For Choice And The Women Who Love Them.
20 months ago, Ilyse Hogue accepted the opportunity to lead NARAL. Ms. Hogue is the first president of NARAL who hasn’t experienced life pre-Roe v. Wade and yet her focus couldn’t be more clear. In partnership with Sachin Chheda, Chairman of the NARAL Board, Ms. Hogue is leading the charge to take back what Roe v. Wade gave us – the freedom to choose how we live our lives.
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In fact, 7 out of 10 Americans, 70 percent of all Americans, support the right to choose.
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For those who aren’t sure what I mean, let me share the focus of NARAL: Being pro-choice means protecting women’s access to safe, legal abortion. It also means working on ways to help reduce the need for abortion, like improving access to birth control. And it means supporting women who choose to carry their pregnancies to term.
I went to one of the Men For Choice And The Women Who Love Them events last month to learn more and was impressed by the crowd, the speakers and the energy around freedom of choice. I was so impressed that I reached out to the organizers and asked to interview them to gain a deeper understanding and to see how I could help.
I spoke with Mr. Chheda, and we had a fun and educational conversation while he changed the diaper of the youngest of his four children. This is a no-fuss crowd and the conversation was as stimulating as it was down to earth.
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Mr. Chheda is the first NARAL Board Chair who was born post Roe v. Wade. Like Ms. Hogue, he has never lived in a time when abortion was illegal and back alley abortions were the only option available. There are millions of Americans born after 1973, and for them abortion and freedom of choice is a given. In fact, 7 out of 10 Americans, 70 percent of all Americans, support the right to choose.
Why start this now? Because men are asking for it.
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He and Ms. Hogue recognized that the majority of liberal voters are more focused on the environment or immigration rights than the steady dismantling of women’s rights happening state by state. To be sure, the other issues require urgent attention, yet so does freedom of choice. Men For Choice And The Women Who Love Them is on a mission to bring this issue to the supporting majority in a language and style that is user friendly and engaging.
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Why start this now? Because men are asking for it. They want a platform from which to share their support, a community of like-minded men and women, and the tools with which to support the cause. There is the #menforchoice twitter feed that has been picked up by lay people and celebrities alike, cocktail parties in cool venues across the united states, beautifully designed t-shirts for men that say “This Is What A Feminist Looks Like,” and myriad opportunities to learn and get involved.
The crowd at the party I attended was young, middle aged, hip, straight, gay, political, not-at-all-political, multi-ethnic, and charged with a passion for freedom.
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Mr.Chheda is a perfect example of the Men For Choice audience. Born in Missouri and raised in Wisconsin, he was an only child in a provincial household. Activism and women’s rights didn’t exist in his world. At 18, he went to an Earth Day event as a way to get a date. The relationship went nowhere, but his activist proclivity was ignited. He ended up rooming with someone who worked for NARAL and she “educated” him after he called someone a bitch. He says this was the first aha moment, when he realized there was such a thing as gender consciousness. It changed his view of the world and his place in it. Now, 20 years and much activist work later, he is the Board Chair.
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As for the movement, it’s growing, fast. The crowd at the party I attended was young, middle aged, hip, straight, gay, political, not-at-all-political, multi-ethnic, and charged with a passion for freedom. NARAL affiliates across the nation are hosting their own location specific gatherings and the word is spreading. Look up your area NARAL to find out details about the next event near you.
It’s exciting to see the next generation picking this issue up. Freedom is a right that will never be given without a fight; it requires constant vigilance and action. There is irony here. Ronald Reagan was the first President to truly set the agenda of eliminating freedom of choice. And yet he was so right when he said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”
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Photo: Flickr/Leo Grübler
Government never had any business in abortion. Period. Just like education, family or any of the other things they meddle in. Read the Enumerated Powers section of the Constitution, then the Bill Of Rights. Not one word about family planning or abortion in either. This is the same government that can’t even give proper medical care to vets, and took three days to respond to Katrina. Why would anyone trust their life and health to a system like that?
Cool and anti-circ movement. Oh, you meant choice for women only.
This site is for Good Men… the men in the comments really need this site. They really should make this their most important life project. I hope they will become Good Men one day.
Judge not lest ye be judged – or in much plainer english ‘Fuck off idiot’. Tell me why is it that a woman should be granted choice as to be a mother or not, but a man’s choice to be a parent or not is soley at the decision of a woman? So a womans choice is hers, but a mans choice is still hers? And if his choice is not inline with her choice then he is a deadbeat and not a ‘good man’. Do you not see the double standard there? Do we need to have a ‘good… Read more »
Please consider that it is your choice to select a partner that would include you in her reproductive decisions if a pregnancy were to occur. That’s a good conversation to have BEFORE you hop in the sack, right? My wife and I discussed the outcome of an unintended pregnancy while we were dating. She advised me she would terminate an accidental pregnancy. Neither of us want children, so that was a good fit for us, and we continued the relationship. Ironically, my sister was unable to have children, so my wife and I tried to conceive to give her a… Read more »
I think there is some confusion here Joshua, its not that we demand to have choice over HER body, but we want choice over ours. If a woman rape a guy and she is pregnant no matter what he is forced to support her and the baby. Men should have a window of time to decide if they want to father the child or not. And its totally fair, its not like demanding something out of this world…
Exactly. It is currently in the news. A 14 year old boy who was raped by a grown woman is being forced to pay child support!
Amen. Thank you for explaining that.
Its not about terminating or controlling HER pregnancy, but whether he should accept to a father a child he never wanted or was forced upon….this is the matter in question. Its about him, not her.
here (canada) a man can sign away his parental rights, i think this is fair and should be an option everywhere and would support legislation anywhere that was for that.
actually claiming to be for the removal of gender roles and equality and at the same time opposing the choice for men is a contradiction, you know that right?
Apparently the ‘Mens Choice’ here is she makes her decision and the man says “yes dear , whatever you say”.
Though I guess Men Choice rights are being dismantled state by state because Men have NO legal reproductive rights whatsoever.
Name one of these “man’s rights” that is being “dismantled”.
oops, clicked send too soon.
I mean REAL LEGAL CHOICE.
No. Men do not have any legal claim to anything happening in the body of another human being. Would you have the legal right to demand your sibling give you a kidney?
This movement, Does it include Choice for Men as well, or just choice for Women.
Thanks I was hoping someone would address that.
If said man has an uterus/is pregnant/etc., sure, he must have his legal choice to abort.
So you are saying that men should have no legal choice whatsoever.
I guess you and I view EQUALITY differently.
Pro Choice really is PRO ABORTION dressed in nice heals and a skirt.
And by the same token pro “life” is actually “forced birth”, wrapped in slut shaming and self-righteousness.
Perhaps it is, but since this topic is about Pro Choice, I am curious why you felt the need to point that out.
I was replying specifically to your comment which states that supporting reproductive rights for women should be branded as pro abortion. Actually supporting choice means allowing better access to birth control for all women-and men- and effective sex education, both of which have been shown to reduce the rate of abortions.
man should a window of time where he can pull out, losing all the legal right to fatherhood. Its actually fair and a logical step to make.
@ Lolabunny
“If said man has an uterus/is pregnant/etc., sure, he must have his legal choice to abort.”
What if said man can impregnate and what if said man impregnates a woman in the course of her having raped him. Does he not have a right to choose whether to be a father or not?
No he does not. He maybe able to use the fetus to press charges for the assault but until the fetus can be transplanted into a man there is no option for him
If a man wants a child, get with a woman who wants one; if he doesn’t want a child, get with a woman who doesn’t want one and use birth control. Do you really believe that a man should be able to force a woman to have an abortion? Force a woman to have a baby?
@ Miri And if she’s not forthright, then what? He’s SOL for being with a lying ahole. There are no states which require that a man agree to an adoption prior to termination of his parental rights and there are enough loopholes for women to ensure that he doesn’t need to consent. Since women essentially have the right to unilaterally terminate their parental rights, men should have the right also. The MRM is actually being a lot more honest with their position. Change adoption laws to require paternity be established and paternal consent be required prior to an adoption and… Read more »
Choice for men? Does a pregnancy affect your body or mine? No. The choices we have are these- don’t have sex, use a condom, get a vasectomy, or rely on the woman’s birth control pill. Men will have an additional choice, which is the male birth control pill, available around 2017. That’s it. If any of these methods fail, the resulting pregnancy is the responsibility of both parties, but the choice is 100% the prerogative of the woman.
The choice is to ask your partner ahead of time; talk about what you would want to do if an accidental pregnancy occurred,. and then take appropriate steps to make that happen or to not be sexual partners
@ Miri
Doesn’t a woman have a choice to take appropriate steps to not get pregnant? There you go the abortion debate resolved. Ban abortion; just don’t get pregnant if you don’t want a child.
Lol because women can 100% control when they get pregnant, trust me we all wish that were the case but it is not. As for men’s choice they should be responsible and discuss it before sex it isn’t 100% but until it can be transferred to the man’s body that’s his option discuss and use condoms.
OP Ject the man has options prior to conception , he has the option to pre discuss how the woman feels about abortion, this isnt 100% because you cant 100% know how your going to feel until its happening but its a start he also should use a condom maybe also provide sperm aside those are his options until such a time that the fetus is able to be transplanted to a males body. @John Gottman she does but nothing is 100% also the man has the choice of using a condom and spermicide. a woman unfortunately cant 100% control… Read more »