Not Ready to Fill His Father's Shoes

Abstract

Many men report a profound experience associated with the abortion of a fetus they coconceived. Yet the meanings of abortion for men remain underinvestigated. Using data from in-depth interviews with twenty men involved in thirty abortions, this article explicates a masculinist discourse of abortion. By examining how men account for the process of deciding to terminate an unintended pregnancy and the meanings of the experience, this article demonstrates how the abortion experience is bound by men's understandings of competent fatherhood and dominant meanings of masculinity. In accounting for the decision to terminate the pregnancy, men consider their relative desire to reproduce themselves, their evaluation of self in relation to idealized fatherhood, and whether they feel ready to take on the role of the provider and head of household. Taken together, these narratives reveal the cultural dominance of narrowly defined expectations of fatherhood and how men articulate a desire for traditional family formation.