My first child was killed by abortion. His name was Michael. I was 19 years old. I fought for his life, but was told that nothing that I thought, nothing that I did, and nothing that I said mattered. After the abortion, the loss was overwhelming, and my

grades began to suffer. And the counselors who helped Michael’s mother to waive classes refused to give me that same help and told me that the abortion didn’t affect me – because I was a man.

But it did affect me, and I failed out of college. Then I failed out of another college two more times, and eight years later, I was homeless, addicted to meth, overdosing alone in a hotel room – waiting for the police to arrive.

By the grace of God, I made it into treatment. And in treatment, counselors helped me to

connect the abortion to the destructive behavior and to begin to heal. They guided me in

naming Michael. They helped me to write letters of forgiveness and letters asking for

forgiveness. They gave me permission to mourn. For the first time, someone told me the

truth.

Fathers lose children too. And that as a father, the abortion did affect me. Today, it’s been 29 years since Michael’s death. And because I broke my silence in treatment and was able to begin to heal, I’m now a retired attorney, married with 5 amazing children, and I run a national non-profit called Men for Life.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are told that abortion is a women’s issue and that it doesn’t affect men. Last year, over one million babies were aborted in America. That means over one million fathers lost a son or daughter—and most were told to stay silent.

The unfortunate reality is that men as a whole have been shouted down for 53 years to the point that even pro-life men have succumbed to being silent – or passively pro-life.

But abortion is not a women’s issue. It is a human issue. It affects every single one of us. Men were created to protect, to provide, to lead, to serve, and to leave a legacy that honors God. We cannot fulfill these masculine roles if we remain silent while a million babies are slaughtered every year.

Abortion is a spiritual war, and 90% of those actively fighting day in and day out are women. And if we as men have consigned ourselves to sit back and write checks to fund a war that we send our women off to fight – against pure evil itself – then men, we are failing in our masculinity. Men cannot be silent. Fathers cannot be silent. We cannot be passive for our children for their mothers, for our own healing.

That is why I’m standing here today, calling all men to step into their role as protectors of the most innocent, to break their silence, and to take action in the fight to end  abortion. That is why I am silent no more!