Oldschool41 : No. The decision to get an abortion is entirely up to the potential mother. If she wants to take the man's opinion into account, that is her prerogative. Why should she have to suffer through a pregnancy because someone else wants her to? Your solution will only complicate an already unpleasant process.

Traduweise : Well I'm not entirely saying that the Father's decision completely overrides the mother's decision. Only that his decision should have some weight on whether the mother can get an abortion. Don't get me wrong this is not the only thing I believe should carry weight on the abortion issue. Other factors that I believe should have an influence...

1. Mother/Father's income (can both of them be able to finacially support the child)

2. If the Mother has any other children (if a mother is already raising 9 other children, then I think she should consider getting an abortion if she is having trouble supporting those other 9 child...like Octomom.)

3. If the child was fathered through rape.

4. If the child was fathered through incest

5. Is there a risk that the mother could die or be harmed through child birth

6. Medicial History of both father or mother

7. Is there any chance that the mother would consider putting up the child for adoption

8. Could the father or mother's parents be able and willing to care for the child in the event that both parents can't take care of the child/die

9. Does the mother or father have any prior crimminal records (I don't think murderer's should be raising a child, let alone have one).

But I want to remain on the issue of whether a father's opinion should carry any weight. If the mother doesn't want the child but the father wants the child; then why shouldn't the mother carry the child to term and let the father raise the child by himself?

I'm worried that if at some point in the future that if the person I'm with is carrying my child and she decides to get it aborted; then I want my opinion to have some weight as I want to raise my child with or without the person I'm with. A woman having the entire decision to abort a child without even considering the father's opinion is kind of unfair to the father if he wants to raise the child. And I say that it terms that some woman, not all woman who get an abortion don't bother to consider the father's opinion.

As for your comment about suffer through a pregnancy, if it takes 2 people to create a baby then it should take 2 people to agree upon an abortion. Just my opinion.

I think its the females decision. If its that important to the man perhaps he should have established the mothers attitude toward the thing before he did the deed. Birth is a serious thing and frankly, the woman gets the short straw with it. Giving the man authority in it is, to me, restricting the womans choice in regards to her own body.

Oldschool41 : It's pretty easy to say you want your opinion to carry weight when it isn't your body carrying the baby to term, isn't it? There is no need to complicate matters. It's the woman's body, and if she doesn't want to be pregnant, she doesn't have to be. Anything less is completely unfair. Men in general would be a lot more understanding of abortion if they had the option of becoming pregnant as well.

I say no.

Here's why.

Why would you abort a child?

1) You aren't ready to be a father.
A) Then you shouldn't have had sex. Think of it like this. The woman's genitals are the paper of the contract, and your genitals are the pen that writes the ink on the contract. The child that comes of it is the agreement. If you simplify it like that, then you are legally bound to the child. Having sex before you are ready for kids is just retarded.

2) You used a condom, birth control, etc, and it failed.
A) Just the risk of sex. Nothing is free. Read the answer to 1.

3) You were just using the woman for sex, and it was a one time deal.
A) You kind of deserve to be locked to that woman now. Idiot. If you didn't like her enough to make more than a one night thing, then you probably shouldn't have had sex with her at all.

4) We were in love, but now we aren't and the baby complicates things.
A) Have the baby, give it up for adoption, dammit. It's alive.

5) I am an all controlling male, and everything belongs to me. Even my woman's innards.
A) Wrong. The woman should have complete domain over her own body at all times.

Can a man have a "say"? Sure. In the same way I can say that I don't want geeogree to be the owner of Vizzed. I can have a say all I want. But it's not my "decision".

The male should never get control over what goes on inside the woman. If you were dumb enough to have sex, and got "stuck" with a child, then either stick it out, or give the damn baby up.

(I should note, the only time I'm cool with abortion at all, is when it's in cases of rape. But then, the woman is entitled to the abortion anyway. Actually, let's put it like this. I'm opposed to abortion, but the woman gets first, last, and only say in the matter. If it's being born inside of her, she gets the call, since she's the one who has to nurture it for 9 months to birth it.)

Okay, here goes... Referring to Oldschool41`s first post.

1. Yes. The people who are facing pregnancy, a couple or not, should at least try to discuss about it together and what their options are. That means both the father and the mother should have a say.

2. She should be able to abort at any time she wishes if it is before the 12th week of pregnancy no matter who the father is or if it is known or not.

3. Well yes. Goes without saying.

4. Rape or no rape, she should have the right to abort it if she wished to. I base my belief on this since it is the mother who carries the child so she has more say on the issue. I don't know what all this stuff about rape is supposedly about but if there is a police investigation going on, it should not be related to in any way to the fact that if you are pregnant and you want an abortion, you should get it.

5. What a bunch of horse manure. Lying about rape though is something that should be given jail time for, but I sense this is not the issue here.

Oh and if you are stupid enough to knock up somebody who doesn't share your believes on abortion then tough luck buddy. Maybe you should have thought about it before you had unprotected sex and suddenly became holier than though about the consequences.

I'm going to be the dissenting party and say that the father should have a say. I'm sure this isn't coming as a surprise, considering my stances politically. That being said, I wish there were no abortions at all (and more importantly, no need for abortions), but that isn't realistic...

At any rate, it is my opinion that the father should have a say in whether or not the mother should have an abortion, ESPECIALLY in the case of minors. I have a variety of reasons behind this that transcends the realm of religion and politics, so allow me to explain.

Making a major decision in a high-stress position requires weighing the options and carefully considering the consequences of any action taken, not the knee-jerk reactions you often see when people get emotional. Taking away the father's input (and extending this a some, a minor's parents' input) creates a culture where emotion rules over logic and people put themselves in situations they will regret. Having a child will impact the course of your life, but having an abortion eliminates the child's potential for life. A hasty decision can cause depression or desensitization, and neither are good for a person's psyche. Considering the woman already made a bad decision in having sex before she was ready for a child, making a second potentially devastating decision is not wise.

With the father having a say, there is more accountability and therefore, more regard for the child's life. If both the mother and the father are involved in the sexual act, then both the mother and the father should be involved in making the decision. This goes both ways in that the father is just as much responsible for the child's life as the mother is. It's the same way that a father has to pay child support if they separate. As it stands now, a father not being a part of the decision making process is an injustice to the unborn child who is completely innocent in the entire matter.

Just in advance, sorry for not being able to address specific users within my post, but I don't exactly know how to do that 

-- In regards to the original post (OldSkool41):
I'm going to go ahead and say no, the father of the child should not legally have a say in the decision to terminate a pregnancy. A woman has the right to be able to decide what happens for herself, and if she decides to take the father's opinion in her decision, that is her choice. I also believe that a police investigation on whether or not it was a "legitimate" rape or not is unwise. In a society where the police force is predominantly male, and where sexual assault survivors are attacked about their traumatic experience, a police investigation would only make the time frame in which a woman can attain an abortion shorter, plus with added traumatic experiences of men deciding for themselves whether or not the woman's sexual trauma through any sexual activity without consent is real or not. Furthermore, there are not many false claims of rape at all. There is a huge amount of stigma involved in reporting a rape claim, as it comes with a lot of backlash and judgment from everyone. After reporting about her traumatic experience, a woman has to go through a trial, in which everything about her personal and private life will be analyzed and judged for the public eye. If she does not have a nonexistent or spotless sex life, she may be labeled as promiscuous, or "asking for it". (This legal process would be even worse for male sexual assault survivors.)

-- I'd also like to address pray75's argument as well:
Haha, I can imagine what your political stances are on other issues.  You stated "Taking away the father's input (and extending this a some, a minor's parents' input) creates a culture where emotion rules over logic and people put themselves in situations they will regret. Having a child will impact the course of your life, but having an abortion eliminates the child's potential for life. A hasty decision can cause depression or desensitization, and neither are good for a person's psyche." However, this is assuming that the male is always logical without any emotion to affect his all-knowing and genius decision, while the female is purely emotional/irrational without any logic to back up her decision about her own body. Unfortunately, in real life, this is not true. Each human being has both logic and emotions, as it is not separated between different genders. That sort of thinking (that men are logical and woman are irrational/crazy with emotions) may have led to why you think that with a father's say, there is somehow more "accountability". I also don't think abortion is a very fast process. There are many things required to be able to have an abortion, such as how long the woman has been pregnant, financial issues, health insurance, forms to fill out, etc. Furthermore, it's not just the woman who "made a bad decision in having sex before she was ready for a child," it may be the man as well. That would totally suck to be a woman, scared and frightened of the thought of having a child, while the man is "totally ready to be a father". They are not on the same level. Although a couple may regret their abortion, I'm sure many also regret having their child. It's sad, but true. 

[This wasn't meant to be construed as hostile debate; I'll admit it's really hard to debate a conservative stance as a liberal and not seem sort of pissy. It's just that our views are pretty opposite, which may be viewed as tension.]

-- If you guys don't mind another thing to think about, I'd like to pose another scenario:
The female gets knocked up the male, and wants to have the baby rather than abort or give it away for adoption. However, the male disagrees with her decision; he wants her to have an abortion. This scenario is just the opposite of the first provided by the original post. For those who feel that the man should have a say in a woman's pregnancy decision - would that change what you feel about who in the relationship gets more of a say? Is the female obligated to abort the child that she wants to raise?

*sighs* I responded to this last night and then vizzed went down and I feel asleep on my computer. Then I forgot about it this morning and went and copied some other things, so now I can't just paste the long response I had copied last night.  Grrrr......

Anyways, I'm going to be kind of against the general grain here... (Does that surprise anyone?  lol)

I absolutely DO believe a father should have some say so in the decision to abort a child.  A father is just as accountable for raising a child as the mother, and although most people want to cry out that the father doesn't have to go through the physical pain.... well, the father is every bit a creator of that child, as is the mother.  Except for the case of rape, when a male and female have sex, they are very aware of what those consequences may be.  I don't believe it's right at all to say that the man has no say-so when he took part in the actions that led up to the conception of the child.  Especially since a man is financially obligated to help take care of his child.....

The only case in which I would NOT agree to let the man have a say so, is in the case of rape.  In that scenario, stick the man in jail for life or stick him on death row.  While that may seem like a harsh thing to say, rape is a -despicable- crime.

I'm against abortion altogether, but seeing as it's legal (here at least), I'm a firm believer that if EITHER parent is willing to take care of that child, an abortion should not be allowed.

I think the father should have some say, but with the exception of certain cases where he shouldn't.

First off, rape is obviously a big no. It's all pretty self explanatory from here, so it's moot to continue.

Another case where I think the father should be told no is if there is absolute proof of domestic violence in the relationship. Example, beating the wife/girlfriend before or during the pregnancy. It could also be done in the case of verbal abuse, which could possibly be easier to get proof of.

However, if the father is responsible, willing to take care of the child, and isn't abusive, then he should definitely have some say in the abortion.

Though, I should also say that if there's a chance of dying while giving birth, then the mother should have complete say in the matter, no matter what.

MegaRevolution1 :  Wow... Juliet did a beautiful job on your layout!  XD

But back on topic-

I completely agree with you in the case that the child or mother is to die.  My husband and I disagree very muchly so on that.  His opinion is that if one of us were to die.. well, I could always have another baby, and that baby would still have both parents.  However, it's difficult for me to say I'd be willing to give up my baby's life just to save my own.  I understand his logic completely, but I'm just not sure I could do that.

I'd hope that both parents could come to a consensus in that scenario.

Kinda surprising that we agree on something for once, huh?  

I hadn't really considered the case of an abusive husband though, and that honestly is a tough one for me.  If the husband 'raped' the wife, then my stance from before stands.  However, if the sex was consensual... again, both knew what the consequences might be.  I think if the husband wants the child and will financially care for it... the child should still have a chance to come into the world.  However, I wouldn't want the father to be anywhere near the child or mother for obvious reasons.  If the mother is concerned for her child's safety, she really needs to do everything in her power to be separated from the man abusing her.

That's a tough decision for me.

I am a bit confused, is this if the father has some say in keeping it? Or if he has some say in aborting it? Either way, I will answer both. And I will first say that I believe the man can voice his opinion per his first amendment rights, but he cannot make the decision.

Should he have some say in keeping it? No.

Its the woman's body. Tell her you want to have kids if you want them, and do it before you have unprotected sex, then you can agree or disagree and you wouldn't have to deal with this.If you weren't sure but decided you wanted to have kids once she got pregnant, no, that's stupid, deciding to have kids is huge, and its not something where you think "Well, there's a baby, I want it". And if its a case of rape, I will say how dare you for trying to stick her with a permanent remembrance to the most traumatizing moment in her life, shame on you. You can have your morals, but it does not apply to that.

"But its alive!" Barely.

Should he have a say in aborting it? No. 

"But I'm not ready to be a father!" I'll say, use protection next time.

"But the protection failed!" Fine, sue the company, but as leggy said, nothing is free.

"But I have so much more I want to do!" The woman isn't kidnapping you! Pay child support and go your separate ways.

I think that a father should have 50 percent of the decision of keeping the child or not. They both consented to it, so they both should have the say in what happens. The man should have as much say as the woman. Sure, it's her body, but it's more or less his DNA, and he should have a say in where his DNA goes or how it spreads.

About abortion, it may be a living organism, but it's not a person until the majority of human features appear. I could easily have been an abortion, but that doesn't mean that I don't support it. Seriously, if you don't like abortion, don't do it. Should be simple enough logic.

Obviously if it's rape, hell no.

And honestly, protection and things like the pill are good enough safeguards to keep you away from even coming to that situation. If it even comes to that situation, you screwed yourself over, but you should still have your own say in what happens. If she decides against it, you're at a loss, and you should prepare to be a father, unless you're excellent at persuation.

ender44 : It was if he has say in aborting the child. If the female decides that she wants to have the abortion, but the father doesn't want her to have an abortion; then he has the right to voice his objections to the abortion.

This is a tough issue because so much of the burden is born by the Mother. However it also seems unfair for a Father to be forced into taking care of a child he didn't want either.

The entire issue of unwanted pregnancy and abortion is so complicated that I don't think there is a fair way to deal with any situation.

No I do not think the father should have a say as such because if they did they would effectively forcing the mother to keep the baby which they can't do, however the father should be able to ask for a surrogacy because the mother no longer needs to carry the baby and won't be the legal mother so both the father and the mother get what they want.

Oldschool41 : of course a father should have a say  it's his son or daughter too and I don't  support abortion anyway but if people are that stupid the father should have some say in it if not most

in all honesty, I think it's the womans choice in the end. it is her body and she is the one who has to go through with the birth and everything not the guy. I disagree with anyone getting an abortion anyway. the women however if they don't want to it's their choice, no body should be forced to go through pain like that if they don't want to I guess.