Abortion and Child Support: Equal Rights for Men

I have just read Daniel Doyle's article on men's vs. women's reproductive rights (Is There A Double Standard for Responsibility in Right to Life and Pro Choice?), which I thought was very well written. When I came to the section listing his questions for comment, I initially went for the comments button, and then realized that I had very much more to say than a comments section would do justice to.

All of his questions seem to me to be questions that no one has answered in the public forum, and in fact they have not been allowed to come to public debate. The feminist left so often seems to be the calm and reasonable voice - yet, when we come to hard questions like this, well meaning people are often shut up through various techniques of rhetoric, and the discussion some of us would like to hold simply isn't. It seems to me that it will take open content sites like Associated Content to have our views heard, and I am thankful for the opportunity.

Before I get into the meat of my thoughts here, I want to tell you all that I am a woman. I'm not a prude; I've had my share of partners and learned from my share of mistakes. I have sons and daughters, and part of my opinion is based in how our public policy affects them now, could have in the past, and may in the future. I'm still young, and I may have more children, so this is more than merely academic for me.

That said, what again were the questions?

A. If men are to be held accountable for life for the child, should men be offered the same protection under the law from unwanted pregnancy as women?

Short answer: Of course. To hold a man responsible for a child he did not wish to conceive is to constrain his freedoms. This is the judgment put forth by the Supreme Court as it applies to women, after all; it is the effect of abortion - to remove the woman's responsibility, on the grounds that her body is her property. So, how does this argument apply to men? After all, they don't carry the child. Their bodies are involved in a very limited way.