I think men should be free of the responsibility for a child they don't want.

In the event of an unplanned pregnancy a man cannot force a woman to get an abortion nor can he force her to carry the pregnancy to term.

Essentially he has no choice even though he is exactly as responsible for the pregnancy as the woman.

So to give men a little more say in the matter, i think that if he doesn't want to keep the baby and the woman does, he should be allowed to forfeit all rights to and responsibility for the child.

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Northwest · M

When two people, who are not married, engage in a sexual relationship. The end result is pleasure. There are no other legal obligations, but it's not much different from a business relationship, where both parties are aware of the risk associated, but decide to engage in the business venture, and as such, if this is a business, they are both liable for the outcome.

In a business relationship, one of the parties can reduce its liability, by asking for a change of course, and if the other party refuses, then the party that chose the original course of action, stands to pay more. If, however, no action was taken prior to a major business decision, both parties are equally liable.

In the case of a couple though, the point of no return, and up to that point, all decisions are reversible, is before a sperm's head penetrates a fertile egg. Everything else, beyond that, is irrelevant.

It's hard to explain all this to a teenager, but this would be no different if two 18 year old engage in a business venture, that created a set of liabilities.

The one thing that's missing today, is a legal framework to handle this situation. For instance, if I get someone pregnant, my payments to support her/the child, are not tax deductible (if we're no longer together, or this was a casual thing), but if we were married and got divorced, then spousal support is tax deductible. There are also some additional things, such as custody, etc.