Reply #144: Yes

[davidthegnome]

We all have responsibilities. What I am getting at is the fact that there is (in most cases) a potential Father in the equation as well as the Mother. If two mutually consenting adults decide to have a child - then separate later, then yes, the man should pay child support.

If two people are out getting drunk and decide to have a one night stand, as a result of which the woman becomes pregnant... then he is still legally obligated to provide financial support. Yes, either one of them could have used protection, though it is never 100% certain. Yes, either one of them could have refrained from having sex to begin with.

Nonetheless, the question remains. Should the potential Mother decide to have an abortion without informing the potential Father, that is also completely legal. He need not be told, under the law, and his opinion regarding the matter would not mean anything at all, under the law. Yet should she decide to have the child, his opinion, the circumstances of the situation, and his own personal circumstances matter not one bit, under the law.

He is legally obligated to provide financial support. Yet she is not legally obligated to inform him of the pregnancy, an abortion, or anything at all, unless or until she requires child support, and presses her case.

In my opinion, it is absurdly biased and unfair.

The point remains, that the child and the mother are entitled to the father's financial support. While the father is not even entitled to an opinion that holds any weight. Nor is he entitled to an accounting of how that money is being sent. Nor is he entitled to... well, anything, really. Visitation rights if he is fortunate.