Abortion is controversial enough as it is - the pro-life versus pro-choice camps have very established views.
But in the entire debate, a man’s choice never truly gets discussed - do men have the right to make or influence the decision about abortion?
Two scenarios:
Woman is pregnant and decides she does not want to have the baby - does her husband/partner/biological father of her child have the right to decide or tell her she must carry the child to full term? Can he demand custody of the child and child support from the mother of the child?
→ I’m envisioning the opposite scenario where a woman chooses to have a child ever if her partner is unwilling and then a man who didn’t want to be a father is expected to pay child support for the child. And this leads to the second scenario:
Woman is pregnant and her partner/biological father of the child doesn’t want the child to be born - he’s not interested in being a parent to an unwanted child or to pay child support - does he have the right to i) tell her/demand that she have an abortion, ii) barring his ability to demand she have an abortion, should he be able to revoke his parental rights and then not be laible for paying child support?
So the question to be answered is can a man compel/demand that the mother of his child carry the child even if she doesn’t want to?
Oh, and like always - inspired by real-life events:
But what of the father? In one scenario he’s forced to financially support a child he doesn’t want, but in another he’s denied the ability to raise a child he’s fathered - why don’t his rights/wants/wishes matter?
I agree with you here…I think the father’s wishes should count for something. There needs to be some sort of recourse either way…like having the mother sign over her parental rights after the birth or something..I don’t know. It makes me sad that a good man, who would want his child, has no say in the matter.
yeah…but that could mean that he has the ability to decide the fate of the mother-to-be for the next 9 months…
what if the mother’s health is failing and carrying the baby to term would risk her life? what then? does his desire to be a parent trump her desire to live?
Queer and Muzna, I am nut talking about forceful or irresponsible hormone driven sex or sick expecting mother situation.
If physical act happened with mutual consent, where both partners knew the possible consequences, and now after finding about the pregnancy, one of the partner wants abortion to stay away from the responsibility of the baby, then the other partner can overrule the decision.
It’s the woman’s body so ultimately it should be her call, I don’t think a man should be able to compel her to have a baby. That said, I think men should have the ability to be absolved of all responsibility should they desire it.
The woman should always have the option to ask for an abortion. It’s her body that’s going to go through the pregnancy ( which isn’t easy by any means ). She’s the one who’ll have to through labor.
If the man wants a baby and the woman does not, he should find another women and impregnate her. Shouldn’t be that difficult. Him wanting to be a dad does not count for much, because he’s not he one getting pregnant.
If the man does not want the baby and the woman does, he should be allowed to demand an abortion or freedom from child support ( in this case he’s giving up visiting rights and all that good stuff ). It’s not really fair being forced into such a financial responsibility, just because contraception failed and now the girl he was boning wants to be a mom (how cute NOT). She can be a single mom if she can support the kid on her own. Or else find another baby daddy to procreate with.
The laws right now are just so tyrannical. There’s freedom, but not really. She can abort cause she’s not ready yet, but him not being ready does not count. How fair is that?
