wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Subject: changing minds (blog)
Women's absolute authority over their reproductive systems comes with absolute responsibility for their choices. There is however, no right to an easy choice. Compelling an unwilling father into legal parenthood is just as foul as compelling willing mothers into legal abortion. There are no happy endings here as you point out, but if through accident or idiocy a couple is forced into these unhappy choices it is her right to terminate and his right to walk. Just because both of these are arguably moral doesn't mean that the law should be required to make the choice easy; or worse not a choice at all.
-BR

Subject: Baby discussion
It can't be both ways:
If women are equal participants in sex, then pregnancy is a "no-fault" event.

And yet, men ARE forced to provide monetary support and women are not.

The discussion you are having pre-supposes that the mother remains competent to raise a child once she's given birth. Clearly, this is not true. Some significant proportion of females are not good mothers. Where are the laws compelling them to provide financial support for a child that the father raises?

The law should reflect that once having decided to give birth to a child, support is the female's responsibility provided the father has signified immediately upon learning of the pregnancy that he is against it.
-ES

Even within marriage, the legal right to force a person to act against his or her will is repugnant, even if that choice has profound consequences for the other partner.
-AM

(no subject)
If any man doesn't want a female to be pregnant he needs to wear a condom. That is where his right ends to prevent a child
-SH

Subject: men and pregnancy
for centuries, when it came to unplanned pregnancy, men held all the cards and women held none. That is, men could decide whether they were going to be upstanding and stick around or whether they were going to disappear. But women had no choice but to bear the physical, social and financial burden of being pregnant.

Now, legalized abortion has turned the tables. Men are left hoping that their partners will do what they want them to. And they have to grapple with what to do when the woman disagrees with them about a situation that the women, by virtue of biology, get the final say on. I can't help but wonder if on some level this issue is less about being "fair" to the men or if it's more about men not being able to accept a situation where they aren't ultimately in control and don't get the last word.
Maybe men have to accept that nature and science have conspired to give women the final say in this important matter, and while it might not be "fair" perhaps it's what's most appropriate for a whole host of reasons.
-EG

(PS: I do think though, that given the fact that a woman does have a choice, if she decides to keep the baby against his wishes he shouldn't have any financial obligation to her).

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