Current law gives Jane the exclusive right to decide whether to end her pregnancy. If John walks away, knowing he got her pregnant and suspecting she will have an abortion, he may be committing child neglect. John may even have broken Alabama law before Jane got pregnant, by failing to take precautions to avoid unwanted pregnancy. Prosecuting men would intensify those risks: if John is angry or panicked about his own legal jeopardy, he might threaten or hurt Jane to force her not to abort. The novelty of prosecuting men for abortion — despite the sound legal footing of such charges — tells us something important about the way we have, until now, framed the debate.

Source: New York Times June 02, 2019 23:02 UTC