Women have the right to decide whether or not they want to be a mother completely separate from their decision to have sex.
Men do not even have the option of opting out of fatherhood.
Why is this a problem? I mean, women are the only ones who go through pregnancy, right? But the men are the ones who have to foot the bill. There are two things men are required by law to pay for whether they want to support the things they are paying for or not: taxes and babies. "So what, if a man and a woman agree not to have a child, he's covered, right?" Maybe.
Consider:
-There is a long history of women lying about their state of birth control, (even going so far as to flush the pills so when the man double-checks, there's no evidence she didn't take it), and women poking holes in the condoms men use, to get pregnant against the desire of their sexual partners. I mean, we're talking about me being able to remember hearing about this in the news when I was 11 (that's 17 years ago, shit, that poor shmuck only has one more year of child support to pay!)
-Relatively new to my knowledge is a spree of women taking condoms out of the trash to impregnate themselves.
-A woman went to a sperm bank, was successfully impregnated with sperm from an anonymous donor. Woman tracks that donor down and the family court judge decides that this man is now required to pay child support.
-A woman raped a 15 year old kid, and successfully sued that kid for child support when he turned 17.
Now, I'm not saying that if a man agrees to help with the kid, which influences the woman's decision to get pregnant, he should then be able to abandon her to fend for herself. But there are two things that need to happen here:
1. a male pill needs to be introduced. If a man has a way to prevent his sperm from being fertile, then he will be able to make sure a woman can't go behind his back to get herself pregnant.
2. a contract of sorts needs to be created, legally binding on both parties. When a woman finds out she is pregnant and first goes to the doctor, the man needs to be called in, and in the presence of a notary sign saying that he was informed on such and such day that the woman is pregnant. He then has at least a week, at most a month, (depending on how far along the pregnancy is; don't want to go past the abortion window) to opt-out of fatherhood through legal channels. If he does decide to opt-out, he can do so on his own, and the court will send a letter (and try to reach through phone and email) informing her that if she carries this child to term, the court will not assign child support to the father. It's called legal paternal surrender, and I think the method I just outlined will prevent it from being abused. One more thing about it, if the man had less than a month to decide if he wants to be a father, and he decided against, but changes his mind before the baby is born, then he should be able to, but once he changes his mind he's fair game for child support if he leaves again. It's a big decision, and a man might panic if he feels pressured by lack of time.
In cases of rape with a male victim and female perp, the male victim needs to be automatically excluded from the necessity of paying for the child which resulted from an act he never agreed to.
A male pill combined with legal paternal surrender will work to keep a man from being forced into a role he never agreed to take.
1. a male pill needs to be introduced. If a man has a way to prevent his sperm from being fertile, then he will be able to make sure a woman can't go behind his back to get herself pregnant.
2. a contract of sorts needs to be created, legally binding on both parties. When a woman finds out she is pregnant and first goes to the doctor, the man needs to be called in, and in the presence of a notary sign saying that he was informed on such and such day that the woman is pregnant. He then has at least a week, at most a month, (depending on how far along the pregnancy is; don't want to go past the abortion window) to opt-out of fatherhood through legal channels. If he does decide to opt-out, he can do so on his own, and the court will send a letter (and try to reach through phone and email) informing her that if she carries this child to term, the court will not assign child support to the father. It's called legal paternal surrender, and I think the method I just outlined will prevent it from being abused. One more thing about it, if the man had less than a month to decide if he wants to be a father, and he decided against, but changes his mind before the baby is born, then he should be able to, but once he changes his mind he's fair game for child support if he leaves again. It's a big decision, and a man might panic if he feels pressured by lack of time.
In cases of rape with a male victim and female perp, the male victim needs to be automatically excluded from the necessity of paying for the child which resulted from an act he never agreed to.
A male pill combined with legal paternal surrender will work to keep a man from being forced into a role he never agreed to take.
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