I'm clearly late to the show but fuck it. The people who are suggesting that this shows that males should have a say in deciding whether to pay child support (I wont even acknowledge the ones saying they should have the ability to force abortion) do not realize the practical result that policy would have. The fact that women have access to child support has very little to do with their decision of whether or not to have the baby. Men on the other hand (at least myself) take that factor strongly into account when deciding whether or not to use protection. The net effect of such a policy would be that more men would (and some already do) try and opt to not use birth control methods because birth control would no longer protect them financially. On aggregate women would therefor become pregnant at higher rates while their rate of abortion would remain largely unchanged due to the absence of child support.

So the net effect would be more babies.. so what?

well men being able to now opt out of the obligation of child support would lead many to do so, leaving a larger percentage (relative to now) of the increasing amount of newborns at a huge disadvantage from the get go.

Okay sure this would have negative economic effects and more newborns would be left for a life where they are worse off but wouldn't this policy be more fair?

Well no. When men impregnate women they are the ones who have to keep them inside themselves for 9 months or deal with the mental anguish/heartbreak of an abortion or miscarriage. Right now women can not hold men liable (maybe in some states they can but none that I know of) for the medical expenses of either the abortion or the pregnancy as a whole -big expense btw-. When a women gets pregnant the male is not held responsible for ANYTHING until the pregnancy.

Therefor when a women gets pregnant (lets assume 50/50 responsibility) the cost to the women is all medical expenses related to the pregnancy, economic opportunity cost during the pregnancy, and the loss of the enjoyment of her body (can't do the same activities, can't drink..) up to the point of birth/miscarriage/abortion. Well, and I know its taken me forever to get here, if we take away the ONE cost a man is legally required to pay when a women gets pregnant then there is an enormous disparity between women (who's costs don't change) and men (who no long have any costs).

The current system is in no way perfect, but its a whole lot better than some of the suggestions I've seen on here, both from an economic and fairness standpoint.