Father's Rights in Matters of Abortion

[theleftone]

While I personally detest abortion, I thought this might be an interesting question to discuss.

Should the father have a say in whether to abort a pregnancy or not?

[McCulloch]

Do you think that the answer would be different depending on the relationship (or lack) that the father had with the woman?

Husband (common law or otherwise married), ex-husband, long-term boyfriend, casual acquaintance, John, rapist, father, cousin, brother, anonymous donor, priest.

[micatala]

A difficult question.

Certainly, the father would need to show some commitment and a measure of responsibility for the result before having any kind of say, in my book. What the threshold would be for showing this 'commitment' and how much say would be very tricky to determine, however.

[juliod]

Should the father have a say in whether to abort a pregnancy or not?

It would be nice, but I don't see any way to impliment it. Men just have to accept that if you are boinking someone and they get preggo, you have to let them decide. It's bad because if they don't have an abortion, you can get stuck with child support payments, even if you never wanted one.

OTOH, I think all men should insist on paternity testing before accepting any baby as genuine. I certainly will, if it is ever an issue.

DanZ

[Lainey]

OTOH, I think all men should insist on paternity testing before accepting any baby as genuine. I certainly will, if it is ever an issue.

DanZ

Even if it's your wife?

[juliod]

Even if it's your wife?

Of course! I'm unclear on why you ask that question.

I'm also considering this product:

http://forgetmenotpanties.com/

(As it stands now, my currect GF won't wear them.)

DanZ

[Cathar1950]

I am going to first exclude all the other men except the father.
Then we can work our way to the husband in case he is different then the father.
But no one has asked what if the father/dad/husband wants the abortion and the woman doesn't?
Or maybe we could go with whoever was responsible and would have to pay child support. What if they do not want to baby?
They are going to have to support the child, shouldn't they have a right to terminate? What if he is a rapist?
I know what you are going to say. "What a twisted human being".

[Cathar1950]

Dan, they don't have male panties do they?
I don't know why they would it is alright for men to cheat and we are always horny.

[Cephus]

In a perfect world, yes, all children should only be wanted and all pregnancies should only take place between committed lifelong partners, but we all know this isn't a perfect world. In the real world, a woman is going to have the ultimate decision whether to abort or not. If the man doesn't like it, he'd better do a better job at picking a woman and probably give getting married a shot.

However, it's also unfair to the man to require him to be a wallet for the rest of his life if he doesn't want the child. The woman has a choice, the man deserves an equivalent choice. As such, a man should be able to opt out of parenthood, pay a certain fee (for an abortion if the woman so chooses) and lose all parental rights whatsoever. That gives the woman information necessary to decide whether to abort or put the child up for adoption or to keep it and pay for it solely on her own.

The biggest question we should be asking is why there are so many idiots out there who can't keep their legs together until they are financially able to support children and in a committed relationship.

[McCulloch]

Should the father have a say in whether to abort a pregnancy or not?

Could we then address this as two questions:

1. Should the father be allowed to prevent or otherwise delay an abortion?
2. Should the father's wish that an abortion be pursued, have any legal or ethical weight in the decision?