From
the Canadian Children's Rights Council's White Paper on
the Future of Reproductive Rights and the Responsibilities
of Women and Men:
Understanding the choice to be a parent and the effect
the Men's Pro-Choice movement will have on children's rights
In Canada, only women have the choice
to determine whether or not they will become a parent if
they become pregnant. If the woman chooses to give birth,
she may abandon the baby to be adopted.
Pro-Choice for Men is about the same issue,
but from the man's perspective: a man's right to become
or not become a parent when a woman becomes pregnant.
If a woman becomes pregnant, she has the
sole right to continue or terminate the pregnancy by abortion.
Her boyfriend / life-partner / common law husband / married
husband has no right to even know she is or was pregnant.
Court Challenges
There have been unsuccessful court cases in the United States
in which the boyfriend of the pregnant woman asked the court
to force her to carry the fetus to term and birth. The man
wanted to solely raise the child not wanted by the mother.
There have also been unsuccessful court
cases where the man who impregnated the woman tried to force
her to have an abortion because he didn't want to be a father.
"Justice therefore dictates that if a woman makes
a unilateral decision to bring pregnancy to term, and the
biological father does not, and cannot, share in this decision,
he should not be liable for 21 years of support. Or, put
another way, autonomous women making independent decisions
about their lives should not expect men to finance their
choice." --
Karen DeCrow, former NOW President ( National Organisation
for Women, U.S.A.)
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