Should a Man Have To Pay Child Support If He Didn’t Want The Baby?

July 26, 2006 by Marc Lamont Hill

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According to the Alternet’s Kai Ma, the answer is yes. According to Ma, a woman’s decision to terminate a pregnancy is not the equivalent of a man’s choice to financially opt out of fatherhood.

The Difference Between a Womb and a Wallet
By Kai Ma

Millions of men are forced to financially support children they never wanted. Matthew Dubay, a 25-year-old computer technician in Michigan, decided that he shouldn’t have to do that.

Dubay didn’t want to pay child support for the daughter he conceived with Lauren Wells, his 20-year-old ex-girlfriend. During their three-month relationship, Dubay allegedly told Wells he wasn’t ready to have children, and she replied that she was infertile but using birth control anyway. After they had unprotected sex, she got pregnant and chose to raise the child. Dubay promptly received a court order to pay $500 a month in child support.

On his behalf, the National Center for Men filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Michigan last March, contending that if a woman has the legal right to abort, give up for adoption, or raise a child from an unintended pregnancy, a man should be able to choose to decline the financial responsibilities of fatherhood. The case, nicknamed “Roe v. Wade for men,” equates a woman’s decision about her body to a man’s right to decide whether he wants children. Last week, U.S. District Court Judge David M. Lawson dismissed the lawsuit, writing in his decision, “[Dubay] had difficulty accepting the financial consequences of his conduct so the state came to his assistance.” Still, the NCRM, which plans to appeal, has managed to provoke a national conversation about “reproductive rights for men.”

From the beginning, the case was a longshot. The courts have never sided with men like Dubay, believing that a child’s interest in receiving financial support from two parents outweighs a father’s claim of being duped into financial responsibilities for which he was unprepared. Matthew Dubay has sparked debate over whether men can claim the right to terminate all parental responsibility, based essentially on the verbal equivalent of an informal prenuptial agreement.

Glenn Sacks, a commentator on father’s issues who supports Dubay, recently wrote, “When it comes to reproduction, in America today women have rights and men merely have responsibilities.”

For the rest of the story, click here.

Categories: MLH
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12 Comments

1. Desiree wrote:

With this guy Dubay, it just seems like selfishness. There is absolutely zero regard for the baby that this man helped create. Whether he wants to be a part of his child’s life is one thing, whether he should be financially there for his child is another. There is a baby and that can not be forgotten. Someone needs to look out for the baby’s best interest now.

July 26, 2006 @ 2:05 pm

2. omodiende wrote:

i wonder if all these manipulative baby’s mommas would accept the father being an active participant in the child’s life WITHOUT any financial contribution. Actually, I already know the answer. It is all about the money.

July 26, 2006 @ 2:24 pm

3. SHAWN wrote:

I think that men should have to pay child support regardless of wether the father wants the child or not. And vise versa, if the mother doesn’t want the child and the father do, then the mother should pay child support. Like the old saying goes, it takes two tangle. People should use protection so that they wouldn’t have to go through this drama. I feel like if people have a child both side needs to take care of it finacially, emotionally and physically.

July 26, 2006 @ 7:32 pm

4. omodiende wrote:

50/50 pregnancy risk?

July 26, 2006 @ 10:43 pm

5. ting wrote:

yea jonesboy, well put. it goes back to my thinking that if we can have laws and restrictions for so much, why aren’t there regulations on who can have babies and who should not. it seems like raising human beings deserves certification moreso than driving or voting. but, like you said, law doesn’t necessarily change human behavior. i think you bout summed up all the arguments on here. with the way things are going, all common sense will soon turn into law….perhaps a bill on capitol hill….school house ROCkS!

July 27, 2006 @ 2:08 am

6. lisa wrote:

Oh, and I forgot another question I’ve overheard an expectant father say…
Is there a loop-hole? Cause I don’t like this hole one bit! Gotta go where she won’t find me! She’s guilty, not me!

July 27, 2006 @ 2:09 pm

7. omodiende wrote:

Rad, he is an idiot and I have told him so.

July 28, 2006 @ 8:52 am

8. omodiende wrote:

oh, and off-blog threats to my sperm have been recorded and any missing/stolen sperm will promptly be reported.

July 28, 2006 @ 8:54 am

9. t wrote:

most black men dont take care of there children.

August 9, 2006 @ 5:22 pm

10. bede wrote:

I didn’t ask for child support. The fool went and filed on himself. HE IS STILL MAD AT ME. Lose lose situation. Men are confused and child support ain’t got nothing to do with it.

August 31, 2006 @ 5:01 am

11. bugre cha de wrote:

bugre cha de…

Popular authors of bugre cha de articles…

October 14, 2007 @ 11:08 am

12. Pantyhose Nipple Fetish Vomit Fetish wrote:

Pantyhose Nipple Fetish Vomit Fetish…

I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view…

March 14, 2008 @ 6:06 pm

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