Abortions: Should the father have some say?

Yes

5 of 29

by Gabriella Samms

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The father of an unborn child should have the same rights as the mother. Just because a man is not physically capable of carrying a child in the womb, does not mean that the child is any less his. Nor does it mean he should have any less say in the child's future. I've heard many women state they are against the idea of the child's father being able to have his voice heard because they are the person carrying the child; they feel they have the rights to make decisions. That is a very discriminatory statement. Should we punish men because they do not have the physical components, therefore claiming the one who "carries or births" the child should be the primary decision maker? Absolutely not. You can bet if the shoe were on the other foot there would be a world full of angry women.

Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, it all still comes down to the fact that we are discussing a child that may not be wanted by one, but is wanted by another. The old saying, "It takes two to Tango" also means the responsibility and choices of two people involved in the creation of a child need to be heard. W

There may be many reasons women choose to abort children. Rape, age, monetary issues, homelessness, drug addiction or just the decision not want to raise another child barely touches the endless reasons to terminate. In the case of Rape, I can understand and side with the woman that the idea to terminate should be hers. After all, she was the victim of a violent crime; a situation where you may not even know the attacker. How often have you heard a rapist come forth to claim fatherhood on a child he conceived during the commission of a horrific crime? Women who are forced into conception should be the sole decision makers. I also believe a woman who may be at a severe health risk carrying or delivering a baby should have more weight in her decision to terminate. If her life is at stake, should we expect her to risk dying because the child's father wants a baby more then he considers the life of the mother? Take a life to save a life just doesn't seem fair to me.

What society seems to forget is that there are so many ways to keep from getting pregnant in the first place. A woman who does not want a child does not have to depend on a man to prevent it; she has a variety of options to keep a pregnancy at bay. For a woman to neglect to protect herself from unwanted pregnancy, then feel she is the only one to have the right to make the decision to terminate what another may want and love, isn't right.

If we are going to hold a man responsible for a child after it's born, don't you think it's only right to allow him to be equally involved in the decision to keep his child even though the mother may not want too? If we don't allow fathers to make the same decisions women can make before a child is born, then we should not force them to do what they don't want to do once a child is born. Two people created a child; two people have the right to make equal decisions.

Any other way is unjust.

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