Thread by @camcamdamn

THREAD: Let me explain why claiming that men shouldn't have to pay child support if he doesn't want to be a father, because this is "the same as a woman deciding whether or not to continue a pregnancy", is a false equivalency.

The reason this is a false equivalency is simple: in that scenario, the man decides whether or not to assume parental responsibility AFTER THE CHILD IS BORN. That is a privilege that NEITHER women or men have.

Once a baby is born, BOTH the mother AND father are obligated to accept legal parental responsibility.
After all, men don't pay child support until the baby is actually born. At that time, the woman is also bound by a legal parental responsibility to care for the child.

The second reason this point is irrelevant is that prior to the baby being born, both mothers and fathers DO have the opportunity to decide whether or not to assume parental responsibilities.

I'll explain these opportunities.

(Reminder: once a child is born, both mother and father, are obligated to accept legal parental responsibility.)

Here's the thing. Women have TWO opportunities to decide whether or not, prior to the child's birth, she wishes to accept parental responsibility. Men only have one.

1. Women decide whether or not to have sex with this man, knowing pregnancy is a possibility.
2. Because women are the ones who carry said foetus, they have a second choice that men don't have: whether or not to have an abortion.
These are the two choices that lie before women.

Here is where the man has his only opportunity to choose: he has to decide whether or not to have sex with this particular woman, knowing pregnancy is a possible outcome and the decision of whether or not to keep it is also hers. That is the "right to decide" for men: ...

... whether or not to have sex with this woman, knowing it could possibly result in pregnancy and that she will be the one who decides what happens then.
If he doesn't want to be a father, he can decline to have sex, because he doesn't get another chance later down the line.

Therefore when a man decides to have sex with a woman, he has implicitly accepted the possibility of fatherhood, because unlike the woman, there are no later opportunities for him to recant. Consenting to sex is the only reproductive decision men can make during this process.

I reiterate: a woman has two opportunities to make that decision. If she decides to not have an abortion (the last and final opportunity a woman has to choose) she has, like the man, accepted the requisite legal parental responsibility (until an adoption procedure begins).

Ultimately, both mothers and fathers decide, prior to the child being in existence, whether or not to assume the mantle of parenthood. Men and women make the exact same choice; men just have to make it earlier.

Once the baby is born, neither mother nor father can just hand the baby over the other and shirk all legal or financial responsibility, and suggesting men should be allowed to do so is patently ridiculous.
Fin.

Men also have every opportunity to prevent women from aborting his child, if he so wishes; by declining sex with pro-choice women, and only having sex with women who would be willing to have his child, should that eventuality occur.

As for "I want the same number of choices"... well, I want my contribution to the human race to be one orgasm, as opposed to 9 months of carrying a growing baby and 7 hours of ripping vagina, bleeding, and excruciating agony.
As my mother would say: "I want doesn't get".