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RSS FeedAbortions: Should the father have some say?
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| No | 24% | 79 votes | Total: 323 votes | |
| Yes | 76% | 244 votes |
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In a well-established relationship, the question of abortion negotiated for a win-win situation. On the other hand, the consideration of abortion, when the pregnancy is the consequence of a casual sexual encounter or a dying relationship the father may try to halt the process.
Can a win-win situation establish when he takes it to the legal arena?
In order to answer the question the focus of light will be reflecting on the following human behavior: morals, values and norms.
"Morals:
Morals are the cornerstones of social responsibility where the action of one person has consequences in the life of others. Furthermore, morals are extending into ethical considerations where the individual is also responsible for the foreseeable effect of his/her action on another.
Values:
The establishment of social order depending on shared values that obtained by early socialization. The child immersed into these values, enabling to learn and participate in a given society without clashing with established laws or causing irreparable harm to others.
Norms:
Norms are prescriptions, serving as common guidelines for socialization. Human behavior exhibits certain regularities, which are the product of adherence to common expectations or norms."(Dictionary of Sociology)
In the light of the above one can easily detect that despite the freedom of sexual expression, there are, written and unwritten clues to navigate in society. Foreseeing the consequences of casual sexual interaction needs a little contemplation, which usually dismissed by those which after instant justification.
An opportunity for releasing sexual impulse has little to do with a human encounter. Ignoring the possibilities of harm may be caused to another is a crime, for which society ready to pay with the full weight of law.
When the father decides to interfere with the woman's decision of abortion, the issue ends up at the courts of law.
"In making the final say, the law is using one of the facets of Human Rights that concerned with natural rights."(A dictionary of political thoughts)
A natural right involves the right to property, in the case of abortion the woman remain the sole owner of her body thus; evicting an unwanted visitor is her authentic right.
Justified by the law the woman considered the winner!
Is she really a winner, stretched on the operating table to separate her from another being?
While abortion in the eyes of the public and the individual father seems to be the concept of a political football, for the woman in the worst case can end in death. Some of the other harm can be infection, introduced by the tools of abortion, involving peritonitis that may cause irreversible sterility. Furthermore, the feeling of guilt over abortion may land her into long standing psychological or psychiatric malady.
Established norms and values in society refusing to accept the father's say in case of abortion however, there are no winners at the end, only losers. Both of them are suffering by the hands of society and perhaps by their own conscience, failing to involve the front lobe of the brain into the sexual encounter, the seat of morals, ethics, norms and values.
Learn more about this author, Dea.
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Yes
The reality of the article title "Abortions: Should the father have some say?" goes to show the reality of discrimination in our society. Often we hear of feminists fighting for equal rights; women wanting roles in different work forces, women wanting out of traditional roles, and women wanting to play sports and simply stated, be seen as equals. As I read this question I am almost brought to tears, as someone that truly wants equality to be seen in the world, but the quesetion is, are men truly being treated equal?
First, let's think about what is involved in an abortion and what the child is at this point in time. Although in the mother's body, the child is the combination of a male sperm and a female egg. That male sperm did not come from no where. In a relationship it can be assumed that the woman consented to having sex with the male donor to the potentially aborted child and that they knew the risks of pregnancy. There are so many options available for contraception nowadays that an "accidental" pregnancy is often the fault of the sexual participants- male AND female, and not just fate.
The child inside of the woman is a genetic make-up of both the male and the female. So should the father have some say? Unless he's a psychopath or a rapist, then yes he should have a say. Let me rephrase that, hell yes, he should have a say. Whether aborted or not, that was and is his child too.
Let's think about the options of what the father in the situation could say; either 1) Yes, he could feel that an abortion is right because he does not feel that the child is going to be born into the world in the right circumstances and he does not want that burden on his mind. This does not mean that the woman has to abort the child if she feels that she could parent the child, but the man should be able to voice his opinions on the situation as it will affect him after the child is born. 2) No, he could want either adoption, to raise the child himself, or to help you in raising a child.
A woman carries and births a child because of genetics, because this is what her body was designed to do. Genetics did not grant men this opportunity however, a woman could not be impregnated if it were not for the male donor in the situation. Each are equal contributors in the creation of their child. Simply because a male has not been given female reproductive organs and a body built to hold a child does not mean that it is any less his child. When a child is born is it only the females opinion that controls the childs life, no, it's an equal partnership. Why should it be any different in the earliest stages of a pregnancy and the child's potential life when abortion is brought into the picture?
This is not just a question of morals in regards to situations regarding abortion, this is about discrimination and sex-ism against the male gender. Simply because a male is not built to hold a child does not mean that he holds any less of a genetic importance or contribution in the child, it does not mean that he is any less of a father, and certainly does not mean that he should not have a role in the decision of whether or not his child lives or dies. He could chose if his child lived or died if it were already born, why not in womb? There is no reason other than the blatently obvious inequality still present in today's society.
Learn more about this author, Kaye Boss.
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