Quote:
Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger
Quite a bit of what you posted seems tangential to my post so I'll just reiterate that the child is not solely the women's responsibility, nor should she have sole decision making power over the life or potential life of the child. You shouldnt get to have full control over birth/abortion then expect someone else to split the responsibility once the child is born. Sharing responsibility should start at conception, not birth. "It's my body and my child until it's born then pay up" does not sound like a good philosophy when it comes to taking responsibility for a child's life.
|
Don't have time to do a full reply, so I'll start by just saying I think I generally agree with Cecil's position. From conception, the embryo, fetus, and eventually baby is biologically as much the father's as the mother's, and assuming there was no force or coercion (to apply the phrasing used above, he chose not to wrap it up and she chose not to keep her legs closed), then I see no reason why he father should have to wait until birth to have any rights.
That said, I also agree that forcing a woman to have an abortion against her will is not an acceptable solution. So, IMO, the solution is that if a woman has voluntarily had unprotected sex with a man and carries the child to term against his objections, she should forego the right to claim support payments from him (so long as he doesn't later change his mind and want to participate in the child's life) just as a woman has no right (at least in BC) to claim support from a sperm donor who does not participate in the child's life.