system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
I think unmarried fathers should have the right to absolve themselves of responsibility to their offspring. Please CMV.

In many countries, non-custodial parents can be sued for child support - and in the majority cases, the plaintiff is a mother seeking payment from the child's biological father.

An unmarried mother has the option to absolve herself of responsibility to the child by postcoital contraception, abortion, or adoption; in many cases without the consent of the father. In contrast, the father has no such opportunity.

I think it's only fair he be given the option to absolve himself of responsibility to his offspring (perhaps by signing away his rights as a biological parent).

***

As a pre-emptive retort to the idea that you 'reap what you sow', and that the father has a responsibility to use contraceptives:

* Contraceptives are not 100% effective. Whether through malfunction or incorrect usage, mistakes do happen.

* The mother has those same responsibilities, but has the *extra* option of absolving responsibility after conception.

 Unwanted pregnancies do occur, and in those situations the father should also have the opportunity to absolve himself of responsibility.

***

Please change my view.
gpt
The reason why noncustodial parents have to financially support their children is not to punish them or to equalize the contributions of each parent, but to ensure that the child is adequately provided for.

In many instances, the financial resources of a single parent will not be adequate to raise a child. In those cases, there are only a few options: 1) let the child starve/go without clothing/schooling/etc. 2) have the state provide assistance 3) have the absent parent provide assistance. We have decided that it is better to require the absent parent to provide assistance than to let the child go without or to require the taxpayer to assist. In both of those cases, a completely innocent party has to suffer.

In essence, you should ask not whether it is fair that the father has to provide support while the mother can choose to abort/adopt, but whether it is fair to make you and me support the child instead of the father.