This may not be the best forum for this kind of topic, due to the demographics. I'm sorry if I'm being stereotypical, but the vast majority of users here are probably dudes. With such a topic, one needs to make sure that the input of both genders is taken into account. But I'll try a discussion anyway.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Are these laws fair to men? This guy obviously did something that is illegal. But by the same token, in a sense, he was screwed either way...

First off, I'd like to say that I'm pro choice. A woman should have the right to abort an unwanted fetus (as long as the choice is made reasonably early).

My question is, why don't men have the right to "abort"? I'll explain what I mean by this in a bit.

I'm really not familiar with laws outside of English NA (to be fair, I'm not that familiar with laws here either), but here the biological father is forced to at least financially support the child once it is born. For at least 18 years. This can extend well into the twenties if the child wishes to pursue post-secondary education. This is seen as the biological father's obligation, whether or not he wanted to be a father in the first place.

It has to be said that some child support laws exist for a reason (although there are legitimate arguments that can be made about how flawed these are in the current state). They actually (to me) make a lot of sense when couples separate. If two people chose to at some point to have a child, it should be their joint responsibility to raise the child to the best of their abilities.

But what if one of the parents never agreed to have the child? Obviously if it was the mother, then an abortion could have taken place. But what of the father? He never gets the choice.

Going back to my question; by "abort" in the context, I mean financially. Why should a man have to substantially cut off his paychecks for a child he never wanted? Is it fair to force such a responsibility upon a person? What do you think?

Conversely, the man is also screwed if he WANTS the child, but the woman does not. It is ultimately the woman's decision that matters. The child will be born if and only if the woman wants the child to be born. The man is supposed to tag along with the decision.

DISCUSS!

^This. My gf's mum tricked her bf back then by telling him she would take the pill. She had it but didn't take it, flushed down the toilet. I mean, wth. Yeah people say both are responsible etc. but it's really weird that men practically have no chance when they trust someone.

The guy tricking his girlfriend makes me sick. But the news anchors who show false sympathy make me just as sick. Tools.

@ultima

Well, it is her body. I don't think men should be allowed to have that kind of control. But early on in the pregnancy they should be allowed to sign "away" the baby, freeing them from child support obligation but also removing parental/visiting rights etc.

I feel sorry for the woman and think that douchebag should get what's coming to him but I think that the laws need to be ammended so that situations like this one do not occur or are at least less likely to occur. This incident also brings up some questions.

If a man does not want the child he should have the right to have a "financial abortion", that is to say that if the female disregards his wishes about not wanting the child then she should have the burden of raising it.

Also if this guy is gonna get charged for murder for what he did then logically speaking a 6 week old fetus is being treated legally as a human being with full rights. Why then is it that those rights are not afforded to a fetus if the man wants to keep the child and the woman aborts?

This brings up issues of equality and political correctness in my opinion. It's not an easy solution but it's something that needs to be considered.

If Woman wants equality, then men must have the same right as woman when it comes to choosing weather to keep a baby or abort it, after all it took both of them to conceive the baby in the first place.

If woman however want the sole rights because it's 'their body, their choice' despite what men think, then this is inequality to men. The only way to keep equality but also allow woman to have the sole rights is to give the men the rights to a financial abortion.

So lets look at this in a scenario;
1) Man and Woman want baby, they have baby.
2) Man wants baby, Woman DOESN'T want baby, Woman aborts baby, her body her choice and man has no say.
3) Man DOESN'T want baby, Woman wants baby, Woman has baby and man is forced into child care, man has no say.
Alternative to 3) Man DOESN'T want baby, Woman wants baby, Woman has baby, Man chooses financial abortion, Man lives his life, Woman her life, and none shall ever meet again.

Also I see a hypocrisy, So a Woman can have an abortion after 6 weeks, no issue, no drama, the potential mother is not tried for murder, however, a man tricks a woman into an abortion and now he's being tried for murder, talk about Misandry.

The only thing that should be discussed is the extremes this man took so that he would not be financially burdened by this woman decision, this clearly shows a lack of male choice and male rights when it comes situations likes this, had their been choice in the first place this wouldn't even be news, clearly laws need to be changed to better accommodate the rights of men as well as woman.

While what he did was horrible, it was a result of him having no options left or any choice in the matter. I have horror stories from close friends where their girlfriends would lie to them about taking birth control pills just so they could get pregnant. Being a man isn't is easy mode as everyone keeps saying.

Are laws fair to men when it comes to abortion?

No. Though one fact that seems to escape people now a days is that sometimes laws just can't be fair to everyone involved.

Sure you could give the man the option of a financial abortion... that's fair to him....

Is it fair to the child though? Not really no.

Sometimes the law can't be fair to everybody... and instead can only try to be unfair the least amount possible.

The man should have to take responsibility for the baby since he made the conscious decision to have unprotected sex when he knew the risks.