If a woman has the right to terminate a pregnancy without the fathers consent, should a man have the right to opt out of parenting a child as well? Even if the wife plans to keep the child?

Conundrum:

A man and a woman are both required to (conventionally) conceive a child. But because the egg gestates in the woman's belly, she retains immediate possession of the child, and all rights associated with that.

Although it's possible to use contraception, and possible to terminate a pregnancy after conception, the man has no rights in the case of an unwanted pregnancy.

Even if they both agreed they didn't want kids.

Even if birth control failed.

Even if he was drunk.

Even if he is a minor and she's a grown woman (google it).

Even if she raped him (google it).

Even if they didn't have sex and she obtained his sperm through deception (google it).

If this was a contract for leasing a car, the man would have recourse if he was trapped, cornered, or things were generally going against what he intended.

But with a kid, he's on the hook for 22 years regardless.

This is unfair, and has ruined many many lives.

Solution?

I think there should be the ability for men to secure a pre-sex waiver of responsibility. If a guy can get a girl to say on camera that she consents to recreational sex and that it is not intended to create a child, then the guy is indemnified in the event that the woman becomes pregnant and refuses to have an abortion.

If she becomes pregnant and he has that, he is liable for half the cost of an abortion but cannot be attached for child support. Any child carried to term despite the existence of a waiver is the responsibility of the mother (there could be a lower tier of government assistance for these women, basically a disincentive to having babies where the father has made it explicit beforehand that he doesn't want a child out of the interaction).

Will every guy get one? Not at all.

Will there still be unintended pregnancies and fatherless babies? Many.

Is this a boner killer and pussy dryer? Indubitably.

But the moral injustice that currently exists will be alleviated because the man did have a "proper course". Men who have unintended pregnancies AND didn't secure a waiver can be pursued pitilessly, as ALL unwilling fathers are today.

Those who take unsexy proper precautions will have some recourse, while still allowing women to have complete autonomy over their bodies.

NBA stars will either secure a waiver, or take their medicine when they're attached for millions, and transactions between women and men in some cases will be more honest.

It's basically a condom for your life.

/r/AskReddit Thread