- Male abortion
The term male abortion was first coined by Melanie McCulley, a South Carolina attorney, in her 1998 article, "The Male Abortion: The Putative Father's Right to Terminate His Interests in and Obligations to the Unborn Child," which was published in The Journal of Law and Policy. [McCulley, Melanie G. (1998). The male abortion: the putative father's right to terminate his interests in and obligations to the unborn child. The Journal of Law and Policy, Vol. VII, No. 1. ]
The concept begins with the premise that when an unmarried woman becomes pregnant, she has the option of
abortion ,adoption , or parenthood; and argues, in the context of legally recognizedgender equality , that in the earliest stages of pregnancy the putative (alleged) father should have the samehuman rights to relinquish all future parental rights and financial responsibility -- leaving the informed mother with the same three options. McCulley states:'When a female determines she is pregnant, she has the freedom to decide if she has the maturity level to undertake the responsibilities of motherhood, if she is financially able to support a child, if she is at a place in her career to take the time to have a child, or if she has other concerns precluding her from carrying the child to term. After weighing her options, the female may choose abortion. Once she aborts the fetus, the female's interests in and obligations to the child are terminated. In stark contrast, the unwed father has no options. His responsibilities to the child begin at conception and can only be terminated with the female's decision to abort the fetus or with the mother's decision to give the child up for adoption. Thus, he must rely on the decisions of the female to determine his future. The putative father does not have the luxury, after the fact of conception, to decide that he is not ready for fatherhood. Unlike the female, he has no escape route'.
McCulley's male abortion concept equalizes the legal status of unwed men and unwed women by giving the unwed man by law the ability to 'abort' his rights in and obligations to the child. If a woman decides to keep the child the father may choose not to by severing all ties legally.ee also
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Birth control sabotage
*Discrimination
*Human rights
*Reproductive rights
*Paternal rights and abortion
*Men's liberation
*Men's rights
*Men's movement References
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