When asked what they think about abortion, “I don’t know,” is the sentiment expressed by many male students at Palo Alto High School.
“I’m not really educated on this topic, I don’t really have an opinion,’’ an anonymous male student told Verde.
We believe that students, regardless of gender, should have an educated opinion on abortion. According to a Verde survey of 353 students in 16 social studies classes on Feb. 4, 21% of male students surveyed said they were neutral on the issue, while less than 7% of female students surveyed said the same.
Additionally, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in October 2022, after Roe v. Wade was overturned and federal protections on abortion were removed, 63% of women said abortion was ‘very important’ to their vote in the 2022 midterms, as opposed to 49% of men.
On May 1 this year, Florida’s Supreme Court banned abortion after six weeks, before many people know they are pregnant.
When asked about this ruling, the student above said he was not aware of the news.
Male Paly students should make more of an effort to be informed on issues regarding abortion. There are a multitude of reasons for men, who may not be educated on abortion, to care about it.
One male student who feels particularly strongly about abortion is junior Faizan Kashmiri.
There’s this mindset that if it doesn’t immediately affect you, that you shouldn’t have to care about it, right? But it’s a very infantile mindset.
— Palo Alto High School junior Faizan Kashmiri
“There’s this mindset that if it doesn’t immediately affect you, that you shouldn’t have to care about it, right?” Kashmiri said. “But it’s a very infantile mindset.”
According to Kashmiri, even if the issue of abortion does not affect men directly, they still should care about it because it can affect the people around them.
“I’m somebody who doesn’t have any underlying health conditions. However, because I know people who are sick … I want them to have access to medical care, even if I don’t necessarily need it,” Kashmiri said, drawing a comparison between abortion and other medical care.
Another reason men should care about abortion is that they make up nearly half of our country’s population, and as residents of a representative democracy, their vote on the issue matters.
The effectiveness of democracy depends on the capacity of citizens to influence policy development and implementation processes, according to the National Institutes of Health. If men are blindly voting without educating themselves on the issue or not voting at all, they are doing a disservice to our country.
According to Advanced Authentic Research teacher Erin Angell, men should care about abortion because they are participating members of society.
If we’re caring, thoughtful humans, we’re concerned about other humans, right?
— Erin Angell, Palo Alto High School Advanced Authentic Research Teacher
“Regardless of whether it’s your body or not, I just think that if you were a contributing member, you’d be concerned,” Angell said. “This [abortion] is something that affects our society. And so, regardless of whether they’re a contributing party to the pregnancy … they’re also human in this country. If we’re caring, thoughtful humans, we’re concerned about other humans, right?”
We agree with the sentiment expressed by Kashmiri and Angell. Male Paly students should care about abortion because they should care about other members of their community.
A resource to educate yourself on the state of abortion rights in the U.S.A