Quote:
Originally Posted by octothorp
IMO, there are the following three distinct rights involved in this difficult equation:
1. The right of a woman to control what goes on in her own body.
2. The right of the fetus to life.
3. The right of both parents to protect their own genetic material.
It's important to remember that #1 and #3 are different rights, even in the case of the mother. I think a really useful example to look at is surrogacy, where you have four parties involved: the surrogate mother, the biological mother, the biological father, and the fetus. The rights of the fetus are really for the pro-life/pro-choice debate, and so don't belong in this discussion, IMO.
My understanding is that if either the parents or the surrogate wish to abort, this voids the surrogacy contract. But the decision to abort still ultimately lies with the surrogate; the biological parents cannot force her to abort against her will, but they can remove themselves from the contract. The rights of the woman to control what happens in her body outweighs the rights of the parents to protect/destroy their genetic material, regardless of whether the parent is the mother or father.
So, that said, do you think that parental rights are more important than the right of a woman to dictate what goes on in her body? Do you think that in surrogacy cases, the parents should be allowed to force a surrogate to abort?
What it all comes down to is that it's not a case of a woman has parental rights and a man does not. They both have equal parental rights, but the woman has distinct additional rights unrelated to the parental rights, simply by these activities going on in her body.
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One correction on surrogacy, if the genetic parents wish to abort and the surrogate decides to keep the child it can depending on the contract trigger child support payments to the surrogate to raise the child.
I agree that the womens right to do what she wants needs to be maintained in order to ensure their health as much as i disagree with abortion and this supercedes the mans right to be a parent as unfortunate as these situations are i dont see a better way of handling it
I disagree that they have the same parental rights. Aborting a fetus excercises both a parental right ( the choice to be a parent) and a personal right ( the right to choose ones own health outcomes ). The law could easily accomodate equal rights on a mans choice to become a parent with a short opt out period after being notified of the pregnancy. This way a women woukd be able to make her parental choice as well with all relavant information. This would provide equal rights but likely is not in the best interests of society