Real Talk

Abortion is a topic that everyone is passionate about. One side says it's a woman's body, thus her right to choose. The other side says that life begins at conception, and abortion is murder. What we, as a society, don't often hear is what the fathers of the unborn children have to say about it. Are they given a choice? Sadly, fathers are not given a choice. If the mother wants an abortion, there is nothing a helpless and hopeless father can do to stop the death of the life he helped create. What happens when a father decides to fight for his rights? In a case filed in the Madison County, Alabama court system, nineteen-year-old Ryan Magers of Hunstville asked the following:

"Plaintiff, Ryan Magers, in his individual capacity and as the next friend of, personal representative of the estate of, and/or father of his deceased child (hereinafter referred to as 'Baby Roe'), and files this complaint against the above specified Defendants..."

Judge Frank Barger agreed with Magers and appointed him head of the estate of his unborn child, allowing him to file for compensatory damages against Alabama Women's Center for Reproductive Alternatives, its employees and the pharmaceutical company that manufactures the drugs for the chemical abortion Magers, now ex-girlfriend agreed to. While records pertaining to the medications used are unavailable under privacy laws, it is assumed that RU-486 was used, as is common practice in abortion clinics all over the United States. RU-486 (mifepristone), blocks progesterone which causes the lining of the uterus to thin, thus preventing the embryo from implanting and growing. Another drug, misoprostol, causes the uterus to contract and expels the embryo vaginally. The RU-486 would have been administered to the undisclosed female at the clinic, with a follow up dose of misoprostol to take home and self-administer 24 to 48 hours later. Cramping and bleeding would follow as the medication worked to terminate the pregnancy. 30 percent of all abortions carried out in the United States are chemical abortions. The World Health Organization considers chemical abortions the safest option and most of the time the women are wholly unaffected, physically, and will return to a normal ovulation cycle just three weeks after the abortion is complete.

The case follows the passing of the Homicide Act, in Alabama, which redefined the word "person," thus clarifying who can be a legal victim of homicide. The wording was changed to "an unborn child in utero at any stage of development, regardless of viability." The landmark case, filed with the help of attorney Brent Helms and a pro-life organization, Personhood Alabama, could very well make it all the way to the Supreme Court and change the laws pertaining to abortion in these United States.

Though Ryan Magers understands there is nothing that he can do to bring his baby back to this earthly plane, he hopes that the lawsuit will give a voice to the forgotten fathers in the abortion argument. "The hardest part," Magers explained, "was I tried to plead with her and see what I could do, but in the end, there was nothing I could do to change her mind." When the then 17-year-old Ryan went to the undisclosed female's father for help, he was told that she was 16 and old enough to make that decision for herself, the father would not intervene.

That was it. Just like that, Ryan Magers was the father of a deceased child. The mother of his child calmly walked in to the Alabama Women's Center for Reproductive Alternatives and swallowed a pill that would end the life of the child she didn't want. In his opinion, murdered at the hands of its mother and left to grieve alone and forgotten. His fight in court will be one that is sure to make history, and so many are pleased to be witnessing the event. Which side of the abortion issue do you fall on?