For every single woman who’s ever had an abortion, there’s a man somewhere in the story. For every woman who was able to delay motherhood until a better moment, or improve her existing kids’ chances by not enlarging her brood, or end a pregnancy that was doomed to end in tragedy and pain, there’s also a man out there who is not a father today — or is a better father to the kids he has — because a woman he was involved with had the means to make this decision.

Forty years of feminism notwithstanding, the reality in American politics and culture is that our national discussion around this issue won’t materially change until men understand just how invested they are in this issue — and then stand up with us to insist that our reproductive rights be protected and preserved.

It’s not that there aren’t plenty of male voices in this debate already. They’re booming in loud and strong from the anti-choice side. We’re getting an earful from the Catholic bishops (whose moral authority on any matter relating to sexuality should rightly be a national joke by now), Mormon elders, evangelical preachers, and pontificating legislators. Out front of the clinics, the furious guy who is raging because “the bitch killed my baby, and I didn’t have a say in it” is a stereotype on picket lines from coast to coast. Men who think they have the right to control women’s fertility are outraged when they find out that they have no rights at all — and over the years, their anger has been a potent accelerant to the flames of anti-choice furor.

We’ve heard more than enough from them.