This is Sean’s Story.
Satan’s greatest weapon is the separation of the union between God, man, and woman. We see this in the Garden of Eden, and we see it today in the abortion issue. Man is present, passive, watching everything from the background in the belief that whatever choice the woman makes, it will affect her, but not him. And that passivity based on lies, that failed masculinity based on the idea that man was safe from the consequences of a woman’s choice, proved wrong in the beginning and proves wrong now.
Just as the original choice affected all of humanity, so too does the choice for abortion. One in five men will lose a child to abortion by the age of 45. A Danish study including 8,221 men who lost a child to abortion found up to a 4.5 times higher likelihood of seeking psychiatric treatment, and higher likelihood of requiring prescriptions for sleep, anxiety, and depression. Abortion does affect men. I am one of those men.
My first son, Michael, was lost to abortion when I was 19. I fought for his life. But I lost. Nothing that I did, said, or felt mattered. The decision was made. And it destroyed me. I failed out of college, moved home, and failed out of college two more times. And at 27 years old, I was at the end of a seven-year methamphetamine addiction, homeless, unemployed, and overdosing on a hotel room floor waiting for the police to arrest me for theft.
But God led me to treatment where for the first time, my counselor helped me to connect years of destructive behavior to the loss of my son. I was given permission to feel. And to heal. This first step in my healing journey allowed me to get my life back. To finish college and go on to law school. To get married, have two biological children, and adopt three more. To own a successful law practice and retire at 44 to be a more present husband and father.
But still I was silent, believing I was the only man dealing with the shame, regret, grief, and guilt of not being able to save my son from abortion. Until I shared my story. The first time, three different men came up to me privately and said, “I haven’t told anyone this in 20 (or 30+) years…” They thought they were alone. One in five men experience abortion, and they all believe they are the only one. So, I share as much as God allows, to break that silence.
In 2024, I accepted the role of CEO of a national nonprofit called Men for Life. Started in 2018, our goal is to destroy the lie that abortion is a women’s issue, to call men to reclaim their masculinity and take real action in the fight for the lives of their children, and to provide Pregnancy Resource Centers with a world class Fatherhood Program so that they can reach the young men with a message of authentic biblical masculinity that inspires them to live for something greater than themselves.
I am the one in five men. I know firsthand what happens to men whose children are lost to abortion. The only way to truly end abortion is to change the culture. And that happens when men reclaim their masculinity, their innate desire (and obligation) to protect, provide, lead, and serve; and mentor the next generations of young men to become good men, who by their nature are life affirming.
By Sean Corcoran, J.D.
Sean Corcoran is the CEO of Men for Life, the world’s only pro-life organization consistently focused on inclusion of men in the human rights discussions, focused on the conversation of abortion. Sean also serves on Vitae Foundation’s Men Study Advisory Committee.