MAGA abortion bans are also an attack on men’s freedom

This post is the third in “MAGA and Masculinity in 2024,” an ongoing series examining the societal consequences of right-wing hypermasculinity—and the people who are combating its toxic messages by positively redefining what it means to be a man to be. You can read the first post Here and the second post Here.

Oren Jacobson, co-founder of the reproductive rights advocacy group Men 4 Choice, said he experienced an “aha-slash—- moment” in 2015 that led him, then a progressive organizer, to change his focus to “Men 4 Choice “to shift reproductive rights and bodily autonomy.

“That was the year he became convinced that Roe v. Wade could actually be repealed and abortion could be criminalized,” Jacobson told me on Tuesday. He cited data from the Pew Research Center showing that majorities of both men and women support legalizing abortion in all or most cases. However, he argued, anti-abortion voices appear to dominate coverage of the issue.

“I was struck by the fact that the men who spoke were the ones trying to criminalize abortion, while the six out of 10 of us who thought it was cops said nothing and did nothing,” Jacobson said. “And that struck me as a really interesting puzzle.”

Men 4 Choice gained national attention last year and earlier this year when Second Gentleman Dough Emhoff invited the group to participate in panels about ways to get male allies to support abortion rights. And the group’s ads have been supported by other prominent activists.

In my interview with Jacobson on Tuesday, we discussed hypermasculinity, the role of men in the reproductive rights movement, and the powerful moments at the Democratic National Convention this year when Josh Zurawski and Derek Cook served as symbols of the righteous influence that men have taken the stage to fight against reproductive rights.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Jah’han Jones: What lessons have you learned from your work on men’s views on abortion rights?

Oren Jacobson: First, most men do not understand the harm that abortion bans cause. After Dobbs it’s a little easier now because Josh Zurawski is speaking out or We’ve seen the story of Derek and Anya Cook or the couple stories from Georgia where women actually died. So the damage is a little more in the foreground. But especially before Dobbs, it wasn’t as obvious to many men how denial of access to health care harms people in ways that people today don’t even realize “Hey, when you start “To ban and criminalize abortion, gynecologists will leave your state and fewer people will have access to full reproductive health services.” So the most important lesson is that men need to understand the harm. How does this harm my family, my community and my people?

[Read more about the Zurawskis here and the Cooks here.]

JJ: What are the other lessons?

OJ: Secondly, most men don’t see this as their problem. For her it is a women’s issue. You think, “It doesn’t affect me directly. I am not affected.”

Third, most men don’t see a natural introduction to this organizational work. Most organizations and organizing, messaging, communications and public relations focus on women and pregnant people, which makes infinite sense. But pick any population in the country and say, “If you don’t engage them, what are the chances that they’ll actually engage civically with you, right?”

And the fourth thing is that men don’t have a playbook. They just don’t know what to do and what to say. And even if you get them through the first three parts, give them an entry point. You help them recognize the damage. They help them create ownership. You still have to tell them what to do and how to do it because they know they are not experts and are afraid they will mess up.

JJ: What kinds of messages do you think have helped make men more aware that abortion is their problem too?

OJ: We tell men that this is not just about abortion. It’s about freedom, power and control. Because no human being can be free unless they have the power to control their own body and reproductive choices, right? Not when the government has the power to control you, or the power to control the most important decision you can ever make – whether, when, and how to start a family. So we start by anchoring the question in this universal value framework that we all understand. The word freedom is such a part of our political and cultural discourse.

JJ: Absolutely.

OJ: The second part of this is what I would call stakeholder messaging, which is different from ally messaging and different from beneficiary messaging. Ally means I stand up for you because you are hurting. Our message is actually different. It’s about what men have to lose. It portrays her as someone whose body may not be under attack, but as someone whose rights it is – whose family it is and whose freedom it is.

We want to use a story like Josh’s to make the point: If the government has the power to control your wife’s body, the government has the power to control your family. So your body may not be under attack, but your rights, your family and your freedom are. Josh and Derek lost almost everything because their partners were denied access to basic reproductive health care.

JJ: I understand you.

OJ: I should say that men who are LGBTQ+ get their turn here quicker. They see the connection between the legal structure of their rights in relation to privacy, in relation to the government, and in the government attacking and controlling people. If you are a queer man in America and live in a state that bans abortion, you probably also live in a state that attacks your rights.

JJ: Sure, and in this case you might be better positioned to defend yourself against things like attacks on bodily autonomy and what that means for pregnant people too.

OJ: Yes, and that’s why we focus on concepts like freedom, power, control. It’s about finding a way to put men at the center – to put men at the center [abortion] story without making the story about men, if that makes sense.

JJ: That’s right. And I appreciate these efforts at a time when the MAGA movement is using these words to promote toxic masculinity based on brutality and bravery. I see your organization using them for better purposes.

OJ: Many young men in particular are receptive to what this movement is doing because the world around them is changing. We are all socialized into ideas. Some of them are good. Some of them are bad. We believe that we must develop a plan and a movement – ​​not just until Election Day but beyond – to win on this issue. To win and fight for young men.