Men’s Influence on Abortion & Three Pastoral Prayer Requests

Transcript

A new study reveals that men have significant influence over whether their pregnant partners have an abortion to terminate the pregnancy… the study also reveals the men may not realize how much influence they have.

A new Care Net study conducted by Nashville-based Lifeway Research surveyed 1,000 American men whose partners had an abortion after he made her pregnant and who knew about the pregnancy prior to the abortion.

Around 3 in 4 men (74 percent) say their partners talked with them about the decision before getting an abortion. Close to half (48 percent) say their partners talked with a medical professional. Some men also say the woman spoke to her mother (38 percent), a friend or friends (33 percent), her father (17 percent), an abortion provider (17 percent) or another family member (13 percent). Few men believe their partner spoke with someone at a pregnancy care center (7 percent), a counselor (5 percent) or someone at a local church (3 percent).

Among those who encouraged their partner to have an abortion, men say finances played the primary role, but other factors contributed to their wanting their partner to have an abortion. Almost half (46 percent) say they and their partner couldn’t afford a child at that time, while 29 percent say there were already enough kids in the picture.

Around a quarter of men who advocated for an abortion point to relationship issues between them and their partner, as 24 percent say they didn’t expect the relationship to be long-term, and 23 percent say there was conflict in the relationship.

When asked about the local church…almost 75 percent believe church members judge unmarried couples who are pregnant, yet 62 percent agree churches are prepared to provide support to couples who choose to keep a child resulting from an unplanned pregnancy.

Most men (57 percent) say churches oversimplify decisions about pregnancy options, but 52 percent say churches are a safe place to talk about the ways in which they could respond to the pregnancy, including parenting, abortion and adoption.

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In a piece on Baptist Press, Lifeway President Ben Mandrell recently shared three prayer requests pastors have, but don’t share publicly.

The first is the pain remains from people leaving.

Church leaders have described how devastated they have felt over the years when friends walked away from the church for what seemed like petty reasons. Christians often use terms like “church family” or “church home,” but they don’t remain loyal to their church when times are tough. Brothers and sisters in a biological family do not typically move away unannounced, never to return for holidays!

The second is The need for Christian counseling is greater than ever.

Mandrell says many pastors are in need of counseling because they’ve carried the needs of others for so long, but haven’t properly cared for their own emotional or mental health needs.

The third is the pastor’s wife feels unseen. Mandrell points to the many pastor’s wives who are assumed to be a part of the pastoral staff and are taken for granted. Many pastors wives struggle to have real friendships in the local church and may feel their value is connected to the fact that their husband is the pastor.

Mandrell offers some suggestions on how to deal with these unspoken prayer requests of your pastor in his article.

You can find this article and more at BaptistPress.com.