Is procreation a right?

[javasaurus]

Should negligent mother of seven retain the right to have kids?

Please read the article before commenting.

Comments

[squire-liz.livejournal.com]

Men have no legal say regarding abortion. If a woman becomes pregnant, she has the legal right to stop the pregnancy, but a man can do nothing. If the choice is not equally shared, why should the responsibility be equally shared?

Absolutely, the choice and responsibility should be shared. I personally would never make that decision without the fathers input. My own beliefs are such that unless I was raped, I wouldn't consider abortion (no flames please, I'm not pretending to make the decision for anyone else), but before I made the decion to raise the child, or give it up for adoption I would be discussing everything with the father. If someone has an unexpected pregnancy, It took two to make that child, and both have a responsiblity to be involved in the decisions regarding that child.

The thing is, and this is a failing of society I suppose, men have not traditionally taken responsibility, and so should not have a choice. If you fathered a child and will take the child and raise it (I have several friends doing just that) than you get a choice. But I have heard men say oh, no I don't want anything to do with raising the kid, but I want you to have the child anyway. Ummm no.

Of course the main point here is that one would think, after 7 kids she knows the facts of life. I've been sexually active for a decade and gee look, no kids. There are plenty of birth control options, heck you can go into a clinic and get free condoms which work pretty darn well. A child, ok accident, something slipped/broke whatever. 7 kids is willful ignorance.

[wilhelmina-d.livejournal.com]

This is getting a bit off the original question, but is just as fascinating. We do not give men the same rights as women when it comes to child rearing, but expect them to bear the same - or greater - responsibilities. Men often have to pay high child support amounts, then are denied access to their children.

We have to stop treating children as commodities to be bartered between parents. Or used to get welfare money. One of the reasons I personally support a woman's right to chose is that I firmly believe the phrase "every child a wanted child". So why is it that a woman has a significantly higher chance of getting the kids in a divorce? It's actually incumbent on the man to prove that a woman is incompetent for him to get the kids. Not prove that he's just as good or better than her. Prove that she's actively a bad mom.

Again, I can see the problems, I just can't come up with any answers.

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

Absolutely, the choice and responsibility should be shared
Definitely. I also agree that men who say "I don't want anything to do with raising the kid" should lose the choice at the same time.

I take some exception to the statement "men have not traditionally taken responsibility". Most men are very responsible in such matters, it's the exceptions that make the news. It may be true that most people that have abandoned their responsibilities have traditionally been men, but this does not make it a blanket statement for all, or even most men.

[squire-liz.livejournal.com]

Point made about the rather blanket statement. Although there is a reason we have that stereotype, it doesn't hold true for all.