(Oregon Right to Life) — A recent panel discussion hosted by Live Action founder Lila Rose explored the devastating impact of abortion – not only on women and unborn babies, but also on the men involved. The discussion underscored the often underrepresented voices of the men who have lost their children to abortion.
The six-person panel discussion, published on YouTube June 10, is part of Live Action’s series “Face to Face.” Two men, Gregory Mayo and Sean Corcoran, spoke about their then-girlfriends opting to abort their unborn babies despite their objections. The two women on the panel, Sara Boling and Melissa Manion, also spoke about their own decisions to choose abortion against the wishes of their boyfriends at the time.
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“She said it’s not a baby and it’s not your decision. And she hung up,” Mayo said. Now a husband and father, Mayo said the abortion “impacted the rest of the next ten years” of his life.
In his testimony, Corcoran shared that his girlfriend in college had come to his dorm room and told him she was pregnant and that she planned to get an abortion.
“That was counter to everything that I was raised to believe,” he said. “I argued against it. I can’t remember the exact conversations.” But despite his protestations – and even the offer by his parents to raise the baby – his girlfriend and her family remained adamant that she would abort the baby.
After the abortion, Corcoran said he spiraled into depression, dropped out of school, and became homeless and drug-addicted. Later, in counseling, he said he recognized that the abortion had been the trigger point for the many destructive patterns in his life.
Boling, one of the women on the panel, said her boyfriend’s family had also offered their support, similar to Corcoran’s testimony. She had become pregnant with the child of her high school sweetheart at just seventeen years old, but grew frightened that keeping the baby would damage her relationship with her mother as well as her future plans.
“Growing up, abortion was just something you do if you didn’t want a baby,” she said. Although her boyfriend’s family offered to take her into their own home and provide whatever support she needed, she chose to get an abortion and broke off her relationship.
Similarly, Manion shared she was initially excited to welcome her second baby but “I got scared. And instead of speaking to [my boyfriend] about it, I spoke to some friends who had had an abortion.”
“I called Planned Parenthood, made the appointment for the next day because of how far along I was, and waited for him to come home,” she said. “Looked him in the face and told him, ‘I am having an abortion and there’s nothing you can do about it.’ And in an instant, I stole fatherhood from a completely innocent and kind man along [with] ending the life of my child.”
The stories shared by the individuals on the panel, though deeply personal, provide insights into the experiences of many people whose lives have been touched by abortion. Overall, the panelists described feeling afraid or uninformed about how to deal with the issue of abortion and unexpected pregnancy.
Pro-life advocates across the country, including Oregon Right to Life, strive to promote robust networks of pro-life support, provide scientifically accurate information about the identity of the unborn and the truth about abortion, and lobby for legislation to protect women, families, and unborn babies from the trauma and tragedy of abortion.
There are also many pro-life organizations throughout the country that provide faith-based and secular healing resources for women who have had abortions. Examples include Project Aurora, which offers retreats across Oregon, Dove Medical in Eugene, and The Pregnancy Center in Medford.
Online or nationwide organizations to help with healing after abortion include SaveOne, Support After Abortion, and Rachel’s Vineyard, which hosts weekend retreats for men and women impacted by abortion. For more resources, including information about abortion pill reversal, click here or go to ortl.org/care/healing/.
Have you or someone you know been impacted by abortion? Would you like to share your story – anonymously or otherwise – to help reach others with the truth of the pro-life message? Click here to share your story.
