So you’re pro-choice. You believe a woman should have the right to decide what happens to her body – and that includes aborting a pregnancy if she’s not ready to raise a child.
But what about a man’s “right to choose”?
That’s the focus of one political group in Sweden, which is claiming men should have a right to “abort” all future legal responsibilities for their unborn child. In other words, they’re seeking male abortion rights.
(Go ahead: take a second to roll your eyes.)
The youth wing of Sweden’s centrist Liberal Party has proposed granting men the right to “legally abort” their unborn child in the first 18 weeks of pregnancy. Under the proposal, a prospective father would be able to opt out of any future child support he may otherwise be required to contribute. He would also lose all rights to see the child.
“Men should have an equal right to opt out of parenting and choose whether or not to become a parent,” Marcus Nilsen, chairman of the party’s youth wing West (LUF) told the Swedish Aftonbladet newspaper.
“It is important that men are honest with their intentions,” he added. “With this proposal, there is a clear legal decision.”
Nilsen also claimed women within the party had originally brought forward the idea.
The proposal was quickly welcomed by men’s rights groups and some libertarian bodies.
“Ultimately, forced fatherhood has no place in a free society,” Avens O’Brien wrote for The Libertarian Republic.
“As a feminist, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the gender role expectations in this whole thing. If we’re going to stop assuming women are the nurturers, we may want to consider the idea that men aren’t necessarily the providers.”
Johanna Franden, an international sports correspondent for Aftonbladet, also supported the idea. “I think this is actually quite reasonable,” she wrote in Swedish on Twitter.
Top Comments
I know several men in jail bacause they CAN'T pay allimony. ( I know, you don't give a crap about them).
Pretty sure we don't need a law for this - they just do it anyway.