Should a man be able to choose whether to be legally responsible for child?

[ShyGuyInChicago]

Since a woman can decide what to do about a pregnancy, some feel a man should be allowed to choose and have the choice to give up obligations to the unborn child, and to denying such a choice would be gender discrimination. What do you think?

[Amnesiac]

Both genders can't be TOTALLY equal. For women it's a health issue, for men it's an economic issue. Those are two different things. If you were clumsy enough to have unprotected sex, you need to support either the child or the abortion.

[Joey15]

But why should a women alone be able to choice to have the abortion

[Amnesiac]

But why should a women alone be able to choice to have the abortion

Because it's their body. You may be married to someone, but you don't hand over ownership of your own body when you put that ring on.

[INFERNO]

But why should a women alone be able to choice to have the abortion

The fetus is physically part of the woman inside and growing within her. It's not growing within the man, so as a very crude example, it's like a woman has a third arm growing from her side. She is the one who has the say as to what to do with it because it's affecting her, it's not affecting the man directly. The only affect on the man in the case of pregnancy is a social one (which the woman also faces) as well as an economic one because he has to support her and himself when she's on maternity leave or taking days off for pregnancy issues.

The effects to the man are superficial and mostly indirect. The effects to the woman are internal and mostly direct. Her body is being affected, not the man's so she should have the right over it. If she wants an abortion, the man can discuss whether he too supports it but even if he doesn't, it doesn't matter, she has the final say.

[Disco Jones]

there is a fairly significant difference between aborting a fetus and abandoning a newborn

[nick]

The man makes the choice at the time he has unprotected sex with the woman, if a pregnancy results he has to face up to the consequences.

If he's been tricked in someway, maybe if the woman claimed to be on the pill but wasnt or had stopped taking them and was just using the guy for insemination, then it would be different and its unfair on those occasions that the guy can be made to pay for it.

[Ryhanna]

If you were clumsy enough to have unprotected sex, you need to support either the child or the abortion.

It's not really clumsly so much as totally irresponsible.

men shouldn't be able to pick and choose what they want. Children don't come with a couple of million dollars to take care of the child with. If you were stupid and irresponsible enough to not use a condom (I know they don't always work) then you have to deal with the consequenses.

Sex is reproduction. When you do it for pleasure, there's always a risk.

[Jess]

I don't really think the man should decide. It's not HIS body. It's hers, she gets to decide and have the final say in an abortion

[The Ninja]

i think thats stupid i think the man should have a say in what happens to the baby i mean it has part of his dna and dont say oh but its not inside his body because i dont care i still think that its stupid

[Amnesiac]

i think thats stupid i think the man should have a say in what happens to the baby i mean it has part of his dna and dont say oh but its not inside his body because i dont care i still think that its stupid

Well the man can't just withhold all responsibility for the baby, that's just cruel and idiotic. You "forget" to use a condom, you pay the price.

[The Ninja]

Well the man can't just withhold all responsibility for the baby, that's just cruel and idiotic. You "forget" to use a condom, you pay the price.

well its the girls fault for not telling him to use a condom she should have never conscented if he wasnt using a condom

[The Batman]

I think if a man expresses from conception that he wants nothing to do with the child then he shouldn't have to. 9 months should be enough time for the woman to try and find a way to cope with it and most are doing it anyway. If a woman can decide whether or not to have the child then a man should be able to decide whether or not he wants to take care of it. However, wants he's made that decision there should be no turning back, like he can't just up and decide that he wants to have full custody of a child he's already said he didn't want and he can't decide to just up and abandon the child after he's decided to help take care of it.

[huginnmuninn]

its the womans choice about the abortion but if the man decides he doesnt want to take care of the baby he shouldnt have to.

[Amnesiac]

its the womans choice about the abortion but if the man decides he doesnt want to take care of the baby he shouldnt have to.

Yes, he should. It's his fault the baby's there in the first place.

[huginnmuninn]

Yes, he should. It's his fault the baby's there in the first place.

no it takes a man and a woman to create a baby

[Amnesiac]

no it takes a man and a woman to create a baby

Yes, and the man should wear a condom. No matter how you look at it, the man is always partially responsible for taking care of the baby. Any man who refuses is weak and cowardly.

[huginnmuninn]

i agree with you but the woman is also partially responsible

[Amnesiac]

i agree with you but the woman is also partially responsible

of course, I never said she wasn't.

[huginnmuninn]

if she keeps the baby even though the man is against it he should be able to choose wheather or not to be responsible for it

[Amnesiac]

if she keeps the baby even though the man is against it he should be able to choose wheather or not to be responsible for it

So you're saying a woman has to be responsible for a baby all the time, but a man can just be an asshole and choose not to? Even though it's 50% his fault the baby exists in the first place?

[Dorsum Oppel]

Here's the thing. People are against the killing of a living creature if significant emotional sentiment of the individual dying is attached. (along the confines of common morality here) This is why people feel bad when they kill another human being, and not when they step on a flower. A fetus has no emotion, and it will feel no emotional pain or grief. However, a human being growing up in a struggling family supported by a single mother will most likely feel grief.

A woman is not an asshole for aborting her baby.
A man is an asshole for walking out of his pregnant girlfriend.

However, just because it makes him an asshole doesn't mean it should be illegal. He has every right to be an asshole.

[The Ninja]

Yes, and the man should wear a condom. No matter how you look at it, the man is always partially responsible for taking care of the baby. Any man who refuses is weak and cowardly.

omg did you just completely ignore my last post. the women should not have consented to the sex if the man was not wearing a condom.

[Jess]

unless she was forced to.

[Dorsum Oppel]

They are both equally responsible. Wearing a condom is a mutual effort.

[Amnesiac]

omg did you just completely ignore my last post. the women should not have consented to the sex if the man was not wearing a condom.

Oh, sorry. Yes, the woman is responsible as well, as I've said before. It's 50% the woman's and 50% the man's responsibility to care for this baby, we can't just let men drop their 50% because they feel like it.

[Fiending_the_freedom]

if she keeps the baby even though the man is against it he should be able to choose whether or not to be responsible for it

The difference between choosing to about because its part of the womans body and her choice, is just the way it is, because you guys are not the ones carrying the thing inside of you for 9 months.
The reason that the guy has to claim responsibility at least financially if he chooses not to be in the childs life is because like you said part of his dna living and costing money, the fact is that life isn't fair and thats just the way it is, its the womans choice if she has it, but once its born its both the womans and the mans responsibility.