Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rambi who wrote (79060)	11/12/2003 4:55:11 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

But even if the woman had a choice and still decided to have the baby -- say because she shares CH's beliefs-- then I assume CH believes the man must pay, too, since he made the mistake of choosing a pro-life sperm vessel. No. Equity says that either both get to choose, or neither gets to choose. Assuming the mother has, as she has now, the absolute right, without consulting the father, to choose whether to accept or decline to accept the responsibilities of motherhood, then the father should have the same right. The process could be something like this. The mother would have to inform the father as soon as she knew she was pregnant, and would have to take reasonable steps to determine whether she was pregnant (taking a test if she had gone six weeks without a period would probably do). If she weren't sure who the father was, she would have to inform all prospective or potential fathers. The father (or father) would then have a certain amount of time during which they would have the right to say that they abort any interest in this baby, and the mother, if she chooses to carry it to term, would have to care for it without any assistance, financial or otherwise, from the father. As the system is at present, the mother gets the sole right to decide for both of them. If she decides to carry the baby, the father is on the hook whether or not he wants anything to do with the child. If she decides to abort when he wants the baby, he has no choice, and she doesn't even have to consult him or tell him. That's true even if she lied to him deliberately to get pregnant -- if she told him she was on the pill but wasn't, or if she told him she had had a hystorectomy but hadn't. That's been tested in court -- her intentional deceipt doesn't relieve him of his obligations. Of course, if abortion is prohibited by law, then you're right, of course the father is committed no matter what. But if she has the choice, so should he.