Thursday, March 09, 2006

This Made Me Think

Abortion Rights For Men

Don Surber: Abortion Rights For Men

Mel Feit. There's a name I haven't heard in years. I met him a while back, he was the first man in a skirt I ever shook hands with. There has been much over the years he's said that I've agreed with, I've even been told I'm a 'borderline traitor to womankind.' I don't think I am, I just believe that for the most part men get the short end of the stick.

I particularly like how Don manages to keep both ends level. He has the same contempt I do for men who don't pay child support yet at the same time recognises that there is a level of inequality. Not to mention that he words it much better than I but I'm just some random blogger.

I would like to see this case proceed, I'll follow it closely.

On the human level rather than the political one, it's always seemed unfair to me. It's a woman's body and she has the right to choose and I'm alright with that but what about the guy? He gets no say if he wants the child and if he doesn't he gets hit for child support. It's a conundrum if ever there was one, it's simply not fair but I wouldn't want to see child support responsibility revoked. I don't want to make the child suffer for the parents. So what do you do, where do you go to meet in the middle?

Don points out that "the federal government collects $22 billion a year in child support. There are heavy fines for companies that do not dock the pay of parents to comply with this intrusive law." I didn't know it was that much, it makes me sit and think hard. I like Don, he's thorough.

Then I ran across Cynical Nation and he put it so succinctly:
"1. The woman wants to terminate the pregnancy. The man doesn't. The woman wins. Period.
2. The woman wants to carry the baby to term. The man doesn't. The woman wins. Period.
It really is that simple. He goes on to look at both sides of the coin and I found myself agreeing with damn near all of it.

Yes, it is the woman's choice and I don't want to overturn Roe but I honestly believe the way things are now are not fair to men. A friend of a friend got his girlfriend pregnant a few years back. He wanted the baby, his family was all on board to raise the child and the woman would have had no responsibility for the child and she would have been taken care of during the pregnancy. She said no and aborted the baby and from what my friend said, he was completely destroyed. I respect her right to do as she wanted but at the same time I see this blazing unfairness about it.

This has potential to cause a lot of noise and many minds much sharper than mine will be chiming in, I look forward to monitoring as much as I can. For the moment, I stand in support of the guy in Michigan and what he's standing for. It's time to even the playing field a bit, it's time to accept that men are entitled to some reproductive rights too.

More interesting reads on this:

Adam's Blog. A new read for me, he seems sincere in his words.
MrProliferation of Restless Mania has an extremely well worded and thought-provoking post here.
Below the Beltway looks at it with a touch of wit and some great link-offs.
The QandO Blog also makes some head-on points and does it in a way that is aware and easy to follow.

1. I agree with you with regards to the inequality that exists.  I’m pro-choice because I’m male, and I don’t think I should be able to tell any woman that she can’t do something she wants to do to/with her body.  But at the same time I don’t think it’s right for her to terminate her pregnancy if the man wants the child. 

   I’m just glad I took responsibility of my own reproductive system and got a vasectomy.

   monogodo  on  03/10  at  01:20 AM

2. I respect that, I respect that a lot.  That’s
   about the best example of personal
   responsibility I’ve heard.

   I don’t have any answers but it’s going to make
   for an interesting debate.

   WebKittyn  on  03/10  at  01:26 AM

3. Yeah, I don’t have any answers, either.

   A large part of me says that if one is willing to have sex, they should be willing to face whatever consequences arise from the encounter, be it pregnancy or disease.  If a man truly does not wish to father a child, he should take the necessary steps to insure that it won’t happen.  If that means getting “fixed”, then that’s what he should do.  Just because a woman says she’s on the pill (or patch, or depo-provera), it doesn’t mean it’s true.  There are women out there who want a child, and will lie to get them.  (I’m not saying all women are that way, just that some are.)

   monogodo  on  03/10  at  07:29 PM
Page 1 of 1 pages

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Smileys

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?