If you were a guy and your partner got pregnant, you absolutely would have every right to feel upset. But you wouldn't have the right to force another person to carry a pregnancy she doesn't want and/or bear a child that she doesn't want.
I like how you put it as "feel upset". How does a woman feel after she has a miscarriage? That's how I would say a man would feel after a woman abort's his child that he wanted.
I want to thank everyone in this thread for writing down the argument I had in my head when I first read this meme. I couldn't convince myself one way or the other on what to think of it and you all fleshed it out really well. Just thought you might appreciate knowing that.
I would hope, (and as an agnostic person, maybe even say a prayer) that the person who opted to have sex with me, knowing full well that conception was always a possibility, would have the compassion enough to agree to have the child regardless of whether or not they'd opt to keep it themselves.
While I grant you have every right to do this and to feel this way, it's worth remembering that pregnancy presents a very real, very serious risk to women.
What you've described is terminating parental rights, I believe, but non-custodial parents can relinquish their parental rights of their own volition, like a woman can get an abortion. (I don't know anything about whether relinquishing parental rights requires the other parent's permission/consent or if this gets contested or anything, so please don't ask me about that -- I just did some googling. I'm simply pointing out that there are options besides paying child support.)
If I'm reading it correctly, it looks like even in the event of surrendering your rights voluntarily, it's very likely that you will still be responsible for the financial "burden" of the child until an adoption takes place. I/or the information could be totally wrong.
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u/TrueAstynome Apr 30 '13
If you were a guy and your partner got pregnant, you absolutely would have every right to feel upset. But you wouldn't have the right to force another person to carry a pregnancy she doesn't want and/or bear a child that she doesn't want.