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One of the country's most prideful attitudes is being able to use the self-adhering label of "The Free World". Equality would either be freedom's running mate or a close second in the race of what most Americans consider to be their inalienable rights. Although citizenship is supposed to entitle an American to these rights (as well as many others), freedom and equality have been pushed to the back burner for almost all of the expecting and most of the existing fathers living in this very country.

Freedom can be thought of by two different angles, "freedom to" and "freedom from". When a woman becomes pregnant, certain rights of motherhood almost become instantaneously granted over-night. And it should be. The miracle of life, after-all, is the number one thing that can't be reproduced without imperfection in some lab or basement. That is, one can't go to the local five-and-dime to buy the materials needed in order to create human life. Only a sperm and egg will do. But that's just it. It does take two people, a man and a woman, to create life. So both parents naturally are given these parental rights at confirmation of conception, right? Wrong. While the new mother has been given the freedom to choose whether she wants to have the baby, have an abortion, or have the baby adopted, the father is not given these same parental rights. In fact, if a couple is not married, most state laws strip any paternal rights from the would-be father until a DNA or similar type test has been performed proving paternity.

This creates a lack of freedoms to the expecting and existing fathers that should be granted. While the expecting mother has the freedom to choose whether or not she even wants to be a parent by opting out with adoption or abortion, the would-be father has no "opt out" option available to him (without stiff financial penalties). This works in reverse as well. If a would-be mother decides to have an abortion, the would-be father has no say-so in the matter of if he did want to be a parent. This can be argued that it's the woman's choice because it is her body. And that is perfectly fine. But because it is her choice, if she chooses to keep the child, the father should also be given this same freedom to choose. Otherwise she is making long term decisions on her, his, and the baby's behalf which completely nullifies the definition of inalienable rights (a freedom forbidden from being transferred from one individual to another).

The lack of gender equality plays a bigger

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