All of those posts are pretty good. Mike wanted another son for a combination of those reasons ya'll have expressed. Yes, he was old world Italian to an extent, but also a Mafia Don who wanted to hand the reins of power to his sons, probably in succession. My father was certainly in that tradition. He had six kids (three boys). It was supposed to be nine, but my mother miscarried three times. Had he been a Don, our family might still be in power.

Kay's reasons for the abortion were to end the "sicilian thing" and to hurt Mike. It's very complex, but remember that Kay was Anglo, not born to or raised in the old world Italian tradition.

Mike was certainly intelligent, but not as intelligent as his father, not as sensitive as his father when sensitivity was called for, and, overall, not as wise as Vito when it came to handling people, and situations.