Of all topics the termination of unborn children is the thorniest, especially for males. The arguments of the past, when the practice was generally frowned upon, were mainly logical: the unborn child was a human being like you or I, and so his or her life was considered sacred. This was enough for people typically brought up in a Christian tradition, and even sufficed later in a rationalist world where abstract logic was valued even if the sacred wasn't.

However, in our post-modern society the place of 'cold' reasoning has been weakened - and supplanted by 'emotional intelligence', or empathy with individuals. Universal values are often held to be unknowable; the only thing that matters is to let people live their lives as they feel best. Personal testimony reigns supreme.

And in this debate males have less personal testimony to hand on. Women can speak passionately for either side, and they do; the voice of a man is less persuasive. Of course, about half the unborn who are directly affected are males - perhaps slightly less than that, in fact - but the unborn do not normally survive to write of their experiences.

However, there are increasing numbers of people alive whose mothers generously chose not to have a termination although it would have been a possible way out of various difficulties. Some of these children were brought up by their parents, or (often) by their mother alone. Others were adopted. One or two even - miraculously, one might say - lived through the operation that was intended to put an end to their existence.

The testimonies of these children who survived to be born, both male and female, are completely valid. They are often very simple and touching. One witness writes the following:

'Luckily for me, my mother believed in the beauty of life. She was told her baby would be retarded and to bring such a life into the world would be cruel. She listened to her heart and God and went ahead and had me. I am now 18 and a straight A student. The doctors were wrong and it could've cost me my life.'
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Another testimony goes into more detail:

'When the children were just 7, 4 and 2 years old, Lucia felt a familiar physical feeling come over her - she believed that she might be pregnant for a fourth time. She visited the family doctor to confirm the pregnancy she suspected and undergo a routine exam. Lucia was indeed pregnant for a fourth child, but early during this unexpected time the doctor discovered a problem and he hospitalized her immediately - she had cancer raging uncontrolled in her colon. The doctor and surgeon prescribed an abortion and surgery to remove the cancer as the best possible treatment they could offer.

(...) Lucia is just 35 years old and less than 2 months into her pregnancy. She and her husband already have three small children. Exactly what they had "planned." She had given up a fashion design career she had begun when she was single to have and care for the family she bore. Lucia was deeply devoted to her three small children and husband. They all needed her.

(...) Recently, a first-hand witness told me, "From the very beginning she was determined to carry you to term." You see, I am the fourth child.'

In this instance both mother and son survived - the former living for nearly 40 years more, while the son is now married with children of his own.

Personal testimony is important in itself. It also has a teaching value, with general conclusions being drawn from particular cases, and criteria for judging whether certain courses of action are justified. One moral of the above stories is that the child must have a voice as well as the mother and father. Any line of argument that would promote the freedom of adults to choose to do just what they like is surely seriously flawed. Abortion is an issue that affects everyone.