06 May 2009

Abortions: Should the father have some say?

People love to go on about how abortion is a women’s issue and it’s solely her choice because it’s her body. There are two fundamental facts that destroy that argument. First, abortion is a HUMAN RIGHTS issue, not a women’s issue. One sperm and egg meet, a human life is formed. That’s a fact of science, not a fact of religion. Second, excluding rape or incest, a woman made her choice once she decided to have sex with a man.

The consequence of the choice is that future decisions, including abortion, need to include the father. After all, it’s his sperm that helped make the baby she’s looking to abort. The law needs to acknowledge abortion as a human rights issue and grant fathers a legal standing in the decision making process. An unborn human child should be afforded the same rights as a born human child.

Many women in today’s society believe that abortion is merely another birth control option. Why? Because sex ed in public schools teaches them that. They give girls condoms and if they end up pregnant anyway, abortion is always discussed as an option. Planned parenthoods, for example, will help a girl get an abortion without her family or the father knowing anything about it. They’re taking advantage of a scared child who doesn’t want to get in trouble. Planned Parenthood workers have been caught on tape telling girls to lie about their age and to say they don’t know who the father is. This isn’t in one area of the country. It’s all over.

There is a double standard in play. A woman has an unconditional right to have an abortion, whether she’s being vain, wants to get even with the father or is trying to hide the fact that she is irresponsible. So, off she goes to the clinic and the poor father has zero say in the matter. It’s her body and she can do with it what she wants. No, sorry. I don’t agree with that. Whether you see it as a baby or a sack of cells, it is not hers exclusively. It took two people to create that life, it should take two people to destroy it. If a father is willing to take complete control of the child and raise it on his own, he should have the legal recourse to take her to court and stop her from getting an abortion. There of course needs to be the legal binding contract that he will pay for the child and after it’s born assume all responsibility for it.

I have seen time and time again the following scenario. A woman gets pregnant and decides she wants to have the baby. The father decides otherwise and makes his feelings known. She has the child, sues him for child support AND WINS. Where is HIS right not to be a parent? Why can the woman number one get an abortion over the father’s objections yet the woman in number two can force the father to pay support for a child he never wanted?

The system needs to change to accommodate BOTH parents. Procedures need be implemented to protect the rights of men who want to be fathers as well as protecting women from men who merely are trying to make their lives miserable by taking advantage of the situation. Legal procedures can establish the future of the child, and make sure that the fathers keep their words. The current system can not go on unchecked. It might be a woman’s body, but when she willingly has sex with a man, she already made her choice.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

No, men should not have a say. It would simply not work. Let's say the father wants the child aborted and the women doesn't. What would be the deciding factor in who wins?? Should the person who has the most money wins? How about the coolest car? There is nothing to justify who wins..When epople fight over custody the courts look at thingslike stability and finances ect..but when it comes to abortion what would they look for? Plus it's not HIS body and I feel this is more of an issue that for once men don't have control. Women are the ones who risk their lives, bodies, finances ect..to have a baby or not. Plus what if the baby isn't his? There's no way he would definately know for sure it's his. What if he decides for an abortion and then finds out all along it wasn't his? Then he pretty much made a decision for someone else. This law would be flawed in so many ways it just wouldn't work, sopeople need to come to terms that women get say in their bodies and thier lives.