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Male activists want say in unplanned pregnancy

Discussion in 'Free Speech Alley' started by CParso, Mar 13, 2006.

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CParso Founding Member

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http://edition.cnn.com/2006/LAW/03/08/fatherhood.suit.ap/index.html

Male activists want say in unplanned pregnancy
Lawsuit seeks right to decline financial responsibility for kids

Matt Dubay contends his ex-girlfriend assured him she was unable to get pregnant.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Contending that women have more options than they do in the event of an unintended pregnancy, men's rights activists are mounting a long shot legal campaign aimed at giving them the chance to opt out of financial responsibility for raising a child.

The National Center for Men has prepared a lawsuit -- nicknamed Roe v. Wade for Men -- to be filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Michigan on behalf of a 25-year-old computer programmer ordered to pay child support for his ex-girlfriend's daughter.

The suit addresses the issue of male reproductive rights, contending that lack of such rights violates the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause.

The gist of the argument: If a pregnant woman can choose among abortion, adoption or raising a child, a man involved in an unintended pregnancy should have the choice of declining the financial responsibilities of fatherhood. The activists involved hope to spark discussion even if they lose.

"There's such a spectrum of choice that women have -- it's her body, her pregnancy and she has the ultimate right to make decisions," said Mel Feit, director of the men's center. "I'm trying to find a way for a man also to have some say over decisions that affect his life profoundly."

Feit's organization has been trying since the early 1990s to pursue such a lawsuit, and finally found a suitable plaintiff in Matt Dubay of Saginaw, Michigan.

Dubay says he has been ordered to pay $500 a month in child support for a girl born last year to his ex-girlfriend. He contends that the woman knew he didn't want to have a child with her and assured him repeatedly that -- because of a physical condition -- she could not get pregnant.

Dubay is braced for the lawsuit to fail.

"What I expect to hear [from the court] is that the way things are is not really fair, but that's the way it is," he said in a telephone interview. "Just to create awareness would be enough, to at least get a debate started."

State courts have ruled in the past that any inequity experienced by men like Dubay is outweighed by society's interest in ensuring that children get financial support from two parents. Melanie Jacobs, a Michigan State University law professor, said the federal court might rule similarly in Dubay's case.

"The courts are trying to say it may not be so fair that this gentleman has to support a child he didn't want, but it's less fair to say society has to pay the support," she said.

Feit, however, says a fatherhood opt-out wouldn't necessarily impose higher costs on society or the mother. A woman who balked at abortion but felt she couldn't afford to raise a child could put the baby up for adoption, he said.
'This is so politically incorrect'

Jennifer Brown of the women's rights advocacy group Legal Momentum objected to the men's center comparing Dubay's lawsuit to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling establishing a woman's right to have an abortion.

"Roe is based on an extreme intrusion by the government -- literally to force a woman to continue a pregnancy she doesn't want," Brown said. "There's nothing equivalent for men. They have the same ability as women to use contraception, to get sterilized."

Feit counters that the suit's reference to abortion rights is apt.

"Roe says a woman can choose to have intimacy and still have control over subsequent consequences," he said. "No one has ever asked a federal court if that means men should have some similar say."

"The problem is this is so politically incorrect," Feit added. "The public is still dealing with the pre-Roe ethic when it comes to men, that if a man fathers a child, he should accept responsibility."

Feit doesn't advocate an unlimited fatherhood opt-out; he proposes a brief period in which a man, after learning of an unintended pregnancy, could decline parental responsibilities if the relationship was one in which neither partner had desired a child.

"If the woman changes her mind and wants the child, she should be responsible," Feit said. "If she can't take care of the child, adoption is a good alternative."

The president of the National Organization for Women, Kim Gandy, acknowledged that disputes over unintended pregnancies can be complex and bitter.

"None of these are easy questions," said Gandy, a former prosecutor. "But most courts say it's not about what he did or didn't do or what she did or didn't do. It's about the rights of the child."
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CParso, Mar 13, 2006

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marcmc99 Founding Member

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BlackJack said:

Should have thouight about that before you took your pecker out. You made em, you take care of em.

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That's one way of looking at it. But....I think this is probably just as valid (or invalid, in my honest opinion) as Roe vs. Wade. If the courts are going to allow women to shirk the responsibility for their actions, men should be granted the same "freedom". Equality for all and what-not.

marcmc99, Mar 13, 2006

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CParso Founding Member

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BlackJack said:

Should have thouight about that before you took your pecker out. You made em, you take care of em.

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She should have thought about it before accepting. She made em, yet she gets a choice?

CParso, Mar 13, 2006

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red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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BlackJack said:

That's the way it goes. If you don't want to lose control of your sperm you need to keep it in your balls. By ejaculating you are abdicating control to another.
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As long as the courts continue to hold fathers responsible for children, then men haven't abdicated one damn thing.

red55, Mar 13, 2006

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LSUsupaFan Founding Member

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I have often thought about this as unfair, but from a different end. What if the girl wants to abort, but the Father wants to raise the child.

LSUsupaFan, Mar 13, 2006

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BamaBengalTiger Geaux Tigers !!!!!

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LSUsupaFan said:

I have often thought about this as unfair, but from a different end. What if the girl wants to abort, but the Father wants to raise the child.
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Exactly. And since the girl does let the Father raise the child, is she then held finacially accountable?

BamaBengalTiger, Mar 13, 2006

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martin Banned Forever

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there is so much unfairness and complexity involved it is maddening. even i cant think of an easy solution.

as a guy, i just figure the only solution is to be really careful where i put my dna. and not to get too graphic, but it obviously safer and kinda fun to shoot it in the safe places. although it can be difficult sometimes to not target the danger zones. and sometimes girls can be scheming. you have to watch them take those BC pills. i even think there is a small chance there is a 5 year old martin jr (i call him MJ) secretly hangin out in baton rouge.

the system is ok the way it is. it just means the fellas have to be super vigilant, and not get one past the goalie on a psycho lady, which of course can be tricky, because they are all psychos.

martin, Mar 13, 2006

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Crip*TEAM KATT As Wild As We Wanna Be

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This is a sure sign that Arrmaggedon is coming.:thumb:

I mean if they open this box where does it end.

If the male wants to rasie the child and the female goes ahead and has an abortion, does the male have the right to file charges on her for murder?

I am not sure about this one, I do see the argument as to why they would like to have it BUT at the same time I can see a ****storm coming out of it also.

Crip*TEAM KATT, Mar 13, 2006

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Crip*TEAM KATT As Wild As We Wanna Be

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CParso said:

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/LAW/03/08/fatherhood.suit.ap/index.html
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Where do you find this stuff?

Is this just some kind of twist to doing homework, or some kind of project?:grin:

Crip*TEAM KATT, Mar 13, 2006

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marcmc99 Founding Member

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Crip*TEAM KATT said:

Where do you find this stuff?
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Paul Harvey..........good day.

marcmc99, Mar 13, 2006

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