I had always assumed that if a man had gotten a woman pregnant, then if that pregnancy is carried to term, both partners should be financially responsible for the child regardless whether the man had wanted to have the child or not. The mindset being “they got them pregnant, so you have to face the consequences’”.
I was talking with some people online, and they asserted that if the man did not want to have the child, then they should be able to apply to be resolved of any financial responsibility towards caring for it. I was at first against this proposal, but I feel like I now understand it better. Our current legislation was created at a time where abortion was tantamount to murder, and since it was illegal, an obligation of financial responsibility was the only way to ensure that women weren’t stranded with children they couldn’t afford to raise. But now that we live in a world where abortion is legal (for now), and where abortion procedures are safer than carrying the child to term, there doesn’t seem to be a good argument for men still needing to be financially responsible for unwanted children. Men probably would still need to assist in paying for the procedure, but outside of that, I think they had a point. Please explain to me if there is anything I’m failing to consider here.
I also want to apologize for the binary language I used in writing this. I tried at first to write this in a more inclusive way, but I struggled wrapping my head around it. If anyone can educate me in how to write in a way that doesn’t disclude non-binary comrades, I would appreciate it.
Even if they are consenting adults (mentally mature and all of that good stuff), if one partner doesn’t want a child then they don’t want it.
Sexual intercourse is something that very specifically and directly leads to having children. Just about everyone is given sex education, it’s not like a new helpless creature descended from you being in the world is some hazard occurrence.
You’re arguing the case of a man who has had a child with someone but didn’t want to. Overall, men are able to control decisions about reproduction far more than women. When a parent can just walk away from a child on the grounds that they “didn’t want to have it”, the other parent is saddled with the entire burden. And society is made up of other individuals. Who else should be responsible for raising your child but you?
I went through sex ed at age 11, and by age 15 I definitely was expected to know the consequences of my actions, of whatever type. An adult, even below the age of 25, is not oblivious like a 6-year-old is. You’re simply concern-trolling.
Take a step back.
You are literally comparing having a child to being shot in the back by police on fabricated evidence.
There is an injustice in usurious lending that makes debt slaves out of people. There is an injustice in police brutality. There is no injustice in a person having to maintain an entity they created.
There are exceptions when a person gets threatened or emotionally manipulated into having a child. It is extremely rare for this to happen to a man, and it is right for there to be recourse in that situation. As a male-bodied person, if I don’t want to have babies with someone I am fully under my own power to use protection or to not have sex with them.
“Won’t someone think of the poor men who are forced into having children and then forced into supporting those children” is exactly what you sound like. I honestly hope you aren’t in any position to pass down either your genes or your shitty ideas.
Your distinctions are all a matter of framing. For example, instead of ‘usurious lending’ I could call it a “free choice” to take on that debt. We all learn about spending and saving money, even if on a basic level. But I’m not gonna fall into dumb libertarian shit like that. Everyone of course “knows” that sex leads to children, but do they really “know” what that entails? This applies to those that get pregnant and those that don’t. What’s with all this weird “personal responsibility” shit when it comes to this issue? It’s strangely libertarian and Jordan Peterson-esque
