Male Rights Vs. Female Rights On Abortion

by John Hawkins | March 12, 2008 5:30 am

Over at the Democratic Underground[1], they had a poll up about abortion. The question was, “Is there such a thing as men’s rights when it comes to abortion,” and here’s how the answers broke out,

As you can see, the overwhelming answer here is that men should have no rights when it comes to an abortion. However, I have never agreed with that philosophy and think it is morally and perhaps even constitutionally inconsistent.

After all, we hear over and over that a man bears responsibility as a woman for a pregnancy. That’s true. We also hear, over and over again, that a man should be obligated to support his children, whether he wants them or not. Again, that’s true. A man should be just as fiscally responsible as a woman for a child that they had together.

But, when it comes to an abortion, men are told that they have no say. But wait, what happened to that shared responsibility? Yes, I do know it’s the woman’s body, but she’s making a life or death decision about a child that’s only half hers.

Why should one person be able to decide, without your input and perhaps for the most specious of reasons, whether your child gets to live or die? If the man is just as responsible for the pregnancy as the woman and just as responsible for taking care of the child, why shouldn’t he have a say in whether his baby is going to be put to death or not?

Morally, he certainly should. Moreover, I have to even wonder if there’s a 14th Amendment case to be made there. If you’re saying that a man can’t have a say in whether his own child lives or dies by abortion, it would seem to me to be a denial of that man’s equal protection under the law based on his gender.

Granted, I’d rather just see abortion banned except in the case of rape, incest, and danger to the life of the mother, but as long as the practice is still legal, I don’t see why men shouldn’t have the same rights under the law as women.

PS: Here’s a poll on the subject. I’d like to see how RWN’s readers break down compared to the people at the DU.


Is there such a thing as men’s rights when it comes to abortion?
No, the father of the baby should have no say in whether a woman gets an abortion.
Yes, the woman should not be able to have an abortion without the consent of the baby’s father or a court order.
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com[2]

Endnotes:
  1. Democratic Underground: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2982607&mesg_id=2982607
  2. Free polls from Pollhost.com: http://www.pollhost.com

Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/uncategorized/male-rights-vs-female-rights-on-abortion/