Lindsay Beyerstein is brilliant

Lindsay Beyerstein wrote the best rejoinder to the Men's "abortion" right movement, which basically co-opts a woman's right to choose to promulgate the man's right to choose...not to pay child support.

I'm a firm believer in equal rights. I agree that every pregnant man has the right to an abortion! (This is the safe, legal, and very, very, very rare kind.) Or, not to give birth if he doesn't want to. His body isn't the property of his wife or his girlfriend. She shouldn't be allowed to force him to carry the pregnancy. Nor should she be able to leave the child destitute if he makes her a mother before she's ready.

If I ever knock up a guy, and he decides to have the baby, I solemnly pledge to pay my child support on time, in full, every month. Even if I don't want to be a mother. And yes, even if he told me he couldn't get pregnant!

In the comments, Lindsay fleshes out her reasoning a bit further:

Ultimately, the legal system can't be expected arbitrate disagreements stemming from private conversations about who allegedly communicated what to whom about fertility status, contraception, and/or intent to carry a pregnancy to term.

I think it's disgusting that the guy is appealing to the equal protection clause. If he got his way, he would create an unequal class of innocent children based on whether their father felt like supporting his children. Thereafter, any guy who didn't want to pay child support could evade his responsibilities by registering his preference that his partner abort their child--even if he knew she had no intention of doing so.

It's not the child's fault that it had an irresponsible father and/or mother. Ultimately, the responsibility is between the father and his child. The fact that the mother cast the deciding vote in this scenario is irrelevant. The fact remains that the father had sex knowing not only that he might get his girlfriend pregnant, but also that she has the final say about about an abortion. If you know that you might become a dad whether you like it or not and you have sex anyway, the consequences are your problem.

The right of the woman and not the man to determine whether or not the pregnancy progresses or is terminated derives from the biological fact that she is the one carrying the baby. If the Men's rights groups are unhappy about that, they should lobby mother nature.

I would like to add though, that the symmetry is restored after the birth of the child. If the Mother would like to give it up for adoption, but the father disagrees, he has the right to be allowed to raise his biological offspring and she should be compelled to pay child support even if she wants nothing further to do with either of them.