men's roe v wade
From reading/hearing other thoughts on this, I imagine this will stir up a little backlash from the few that read my journal. To those people, I love you! Respond here, share your thoughts please!
As you may have heard in the news, like here, a men's group is sueing to try and give men the right to opt out of financial responsibility for an unplanned baby. I hope they win. The disparities in parental rights between men and women has long been an annoyance to me. Look to court records and you can see how often the mothers (or female guardians) 'prevail' in disputes. Odds are that even if the court decisions were entirely balanced and fair, considering all the facts, the majority of decisions would go in favor of women anyways, but that does not mean fixing isn't in order.
To the specific point of financial responsibility for unplanned children. Currently, women hold all the cards. Any decision or desire of the man involved means absolutely nothing. The man can always be overridden/overruled by the woman. This lawsuit, if successful, will hopefully allow men the option of telling both the mother & the government that they don't wan't the baby and completely pulling out of any responsibility. Effectively an abortion for him. If equal rights are what this country strives for, then both the mother and father should be able to decide how much they want to participate in the child's life.
I've seen some flawed arguments against this. Basically they go something like, "Its the woman's body. Can the father force the mother to have an abortion? Can the father force the mother to keep the baby?" None of those have any relevance here. This is not about a woman's right to manage her own body how she sees fit. Roe v. Wade and that silly law just passed in South Dakota are a different issue. If you want to clarify and disagree, please do.
This is the way I think it should be possible:
I get a woman pregnant.
I tell her and the government I don't want it.
The woman decides to keep the baby.
I have no more influence, responsibility, or rights concerning the child than Joe Homeless living under a bridge in Bangkok.
Now, obviously laws allowing this would also need some kind of notification clauses. When/if to notify mother/father of a pregnancy, abortion, etc. That is all for a later discussion.
As you may have heard in the news, like here, a men's group is sueing to try and give men the right to opt out of financial responsibility for an unplanned baby. I hope they win. The disparities in parental rights between men and women has long been an annoyance to me. Look to court records and you can see how often the mothers (or female guardians) 'prevail' in disputes. Odds are that even if the court decisions were entirely balanced and fair, considering all the facts, the majority of decisions would go in favor of women anyways, but that does not mean fixing isn't in order.
To the specific point of financial responsibility for unplanned children. Currently, women hold all the cards. Any decision or desire of the man involved means absolutely nothing. The man can always be overridden/overruled by the woman. This lawsuit, if successful, will hopefully allow men the option of telling both the mother & the government that they don't wan't the baby and completely pulling out of any responsibility. Effectively an abortion for him. If equal rights are what this country strives for, then both the mother and father should be able to decide how much they want to participate in the child's life.
I've seen some flawed arguments against this. Basically they go something like, "Its the woman's body. Can the father force the mother to have an abortion? Can the father force the mother to keep the baby?" None of those have any relevance here. This is not about a woman's right to manage her own body how she sees fit. Roe v. Wade and that silly law just passed in South Dakota are a different issue. If you want to clarify and disagree, please do.
This is the way I think it should be possible:
I get a woman pregnant.
I tell her and the government I don't want it.
The woman decides to keep the baby.
I have no more influence, responsibility, or rights concerning the child than Joe Homeless living under a bridge in Bangkok.
Now, obviously laws allowing this would also need some kind of notification clauses. When/if to notify mother/father of a pregnancy, abortion, etc. That is all for a later discussion.