Ending child support - now what?

Question

Several folks have advocated letting men choose to forgo paying child support if they don't want to have a baby. I will call this, "The Right to Abandonment" law. Under this new law, what will happen in these circumstances?:

Mary is a cashier at Wal-mart and makes $7 an hour. She becomes pregnant with her casual boyfriend. He invokes his "right to abandon" and refuses to pay support. Child care costs $4 an hour. What should she do?

Beth makes $25 an hour as an accountant, and lives with her boyfriend. After she becomes pregnant, he decides he isn't ready for parenthood, and doesn't want to "share" his income of $50,000 a year. Her daughter is born with cerebral palsy and must either be cared for by a nurse at $18 an hour or Beth has to quit her job. However, she needs to keep her health insurance, and her BF refuses to add the girl to his policy, claiming he is not her parent legally.

So what should we do? Bring back welfare? Build orphanages? Ideas, anyone?

EDIT: All right, assume Beth's pregnancy was PLANNED, but when she is six months pregnant, her BF leaves her for another woman. Legally, he would still have access to the "RTA" law and could refuse to pay. What then?

EDIT: I am also a big fan of marriage. Please don't assume I am "for" or "against" anything here. I am simply raising a point about the consequences of a law like this.

Answer 1

you know what, guys? if men have a right to abandonment, then women should have a right to cut off a father's parental rights whenever she feels like it. seriously. if a guy can just leave his girlfriend in the lurch in her 8th month, a woman should be able to cut off a father's rights even after the kid is born. we all must have complete freedom, right? none of us should have to commit to anything, right?

of course, i advocate none of the above. it is all ridiculous and stupid. boys, wear condoms, and stop complaining. it's usually you guys pressuring women into having sex without protection, isn't it? so, stop doing that, and you won't produce nearly so many unwanted children that you are unwilling to pay child support for.

on one hand, you "masculinists" complain about not having enough rights to your children, you complain about the role of the father being devalued, and then on the other hand, you see the role of the father as being of so little value that you're okay with men being able to back out all together! pick a position.

Answer 2

Wouldn't the same law apply to men and women? As in, coudln't the woman leave the man to raise the child soley?


Ok, personally I have found contraceptives to be very reliable.
She takes birth control, and we are both well aware of the dimishing effects illness and other medications can pose on the pill. Durring those times I use a condom or we do not act.
We have been together 4 years without a problem. If there was an accident, we would know and have adequate time to respond. Also abortion is still legal.

There is no excuse for people like my little brother having multiple children with no real desire for them nor means to provide adequately. NO EXCUSE.

I can see how this "law" would possibly encourage better precaution and planning in child conception.

It's kind of similar to the invention of Pre-nuptual agreements resulting from high divorce rate, and the insuing battles that occur.

My older brother was in a relationship where the woman intentionally became pregnant and manipulated things to hide it until it was too late. She did this because she was insecure and wanted to "trap" my brother into staying with her.

It didnt work. But his wages are garnished and he has no rights to the child, nor means to persue otherwise. She has her parents backing her with financial support for lawers. They have prevented him from even being able to see a picture of his daughter who is now 12. He last saw her when she was 2. Her mom ran away with her, took EVERYTHING while he was at work because he spoke of dissapointment in the relationship.

My little brother's first child happened from the initial one-night stand, that resulted in a relationship. He asked her to get an abortion (which, incidentally, would have been her 3rd one) but she refused. It was her sole decision to bring the child into this world. A year later they split up. She married someone only 3 months later and left the child with her mother.
Her mother has been raising the child for the last 2 years and has claimed custody rights, and collects $400.00 child support monthly from each biological parent. Wow.

At age 20, my brother can hardly afford to live with this payment and has his second unplanned on the way.

Now don't get me wrong here, Im only speaking from experiences around me. I was an "accident." My father never payed child support because my mom thought it would mean shared custody.
But then, being poor and struggling was obviously acceptable to us. And why should a boy have a father?
My father watched his dad die when he was only 17.
He was incredibly afraid to be a father, and so did not persue anything.

Answer 3

First of all, let me say this: this Right to Abandonment law is a stupid idea to begin with. Any man who causes his little gun to fire off rounds of ammo needs to know where it's going. We would not even have such problems if sex had not become de-responsibilized. Someday maybe feminists will realizr that it was a HUGE mistake to have fought for the right to uncommitted casual sex back in the 1960s and 1970s. But now that that Pandora's Box has been opened, there's little liklihood of going back to the way things were.

The BEST idea would have been to have everybody raise BOTH their sons and their daughters to remain virginal until the wedding night and to have a required course in personal finance in every high school which would address issues like having enough good sense to postpone marriage until one can actually support onesself. If this were done, accidental pregnancies would not be such a crisis, as people would actually be mature enough to deal with such situations as they arise. Solution: DON'T enact this stupid Right to Abandonment law in the first place!

Answer 4

I know it sucks for those that are at poverty level, but I do think that a man should have a choice to terminate parental rights, not just the opting out of child support, but also not having any contact or role in the child's life. If they just don't want to support the child but still wanna play daddy, that's not okay. Either they help support and be a good father, or they terminate ALL parental rights, no contact with the child and then they don't have to support the child. It is quite unfortunate when this happens though, because a child does deserve to have two parents.

Answer 5

Good post . I pay child support .I think i should pay child support . I think fathers should pay child support .

We need to be honest here though .Women trap men into fatherhood and it is putting men into an early grave.

Only women can tackle this issue by telling other women it is not okay to use sex as a weapon . This needs to start as early as possible with the mom telling her daughter ,"dont trap men into fatherhood "

Men tell there boys not to hit women .

I will likley have an early grave because my ex refuses to work and i pay double the amount of child support i should .
Her benefits do not count as income when it comes to child support calculations .

Child support calculations are also payed out and derived from gross income . That is grossly unfair . Keep the system we have but rework it so that men are not reduced to paychecks . I live paycheck to paycheck .

Women need to be encouraged not to trap men .This is a problem . My son is always being unfavoriably compared to his half brother .It is not only the fathers that suffer. The children suffer as well .

I pity my son when he grows up in this world . I realy do.

Answer 6

Val, definite, in all of Texas you are able to terminate your properly suited as a discern. I agree that $3 hundred isn't something interior this sort of youngster help, her is the mathematics: $3 hundred divided by ability of 30 days this covers: nutrients - 3 nutrients an afternoon clothing - a minimum of one pair of footwear, undies, outfits and different needs. safeguard - 30 days according to month infant sitters and or college... All this at a cost to you of an insignificant $10 an afternoon and you do no longer arise for the youngster while the youngster is scared or unwell. you do no longer rigidity the youngster to the sitter or college (meaning you do no longer proportion the gas value). you have father a new child out of wedlock and now that harmless new child will ought to consistently ask your self why their father abandon him with a mom who the daddy thinks is "insane". nice interest. Did you ever think of that the mummy of your new child desires the money on time because of the fact she has expenses to advance your new child. Step up on your household initiatives and pay YOUR new child help. It appears like it particularly is the least you're able to do. Get a modification, visit court docket and enable the courts garnish your wages; i think of on your state the mummy has to comply with the termination rights first. regardless of if she have been given a million funds from the government or everywhere else has no longer something to do with you or your household initiatives; nor does her relationships. i think of in case you tell a family contributors regulation choose your justification such because of the fact the single night stand section would advance your household initiatives just to coach you a lesson on reckless abandonment of your sperm. because of the fact of this condoms are unfastened. you're a father no rely in case you like it or no longer.

Answer 7

Women need to stop having children with a boyfriend, if that child is not wanted by both parents then the parent that wants it should pay for it. Women can choose either to saddle a man with a child they don't want or have an abortion to end a pregnancy that they do want. Women have all the choices, men don't. I would support the law and then maybe women would wake up. If you can't afford it on your own, then wait until you find the man you are going to marry, marry him and then have children.

Answer 8

Why should tax payers, grandparents, parents, and etc be responsible for people having babies without the proper consent of both parties (Dad & Mom) of the child???

With all the information out now days about PLANNED PARENTHOOD why would anyone have unprotected sex with people they are not in a committed relationship with???

It is injustise to do this to a child and expect other to pay for a person's follishness to not use wise decision making.

Answer 9

In my opinion, if men were relieved of responsibility for their actions as women currently are, having the same or similar abilities to decide whether to be a parent, women would quickly realize that their unilateral decision-making ability also carries sole responsible for their decisions. Pregnancies, especially "accidental" pregnancies would suddenly decrease, births to unmarried women would plummet but sadly, abortions would increase dramatically.

Welfare is a bad idea for ANY able-bodied person except in a disaster and then only for very short periods and just to protect life.

Orphanages have proven to be a bad idea as well.

To me, the very best idea would be to outlaw abortion on demand and force personal responsibility on everyone, especially in regard to reproduction. Both parents should be equal in responsibility and rights; punishment for failing to act responsibly should carry the same penalty for either parent, regardless their sex.

This would me, of course that fathers would have to be seen as equal to the mother and we all know that just isn't going to happen as long as the anti-male bias exists in our society.

Answer 10

women should wait until they are financially stable to bring up a child with it being a hassle or having to juggle 3 jobs.doctors,food,teeth- braces...i an not saying be bill gates equal to have a child just very stable,with a nice place,money to enjoy the child not it being a burden.yes,yes many "poor" families are happy.but the parents are worn down by jobs and responsibilities!
be responsable about getting pregnant.if the man does not respond,you will have the means to support a child without asking for food stamps.
many women still use babies to trap a man.that only pushes them away.specially if they thmselves are not financially secure.
excellent response MARRIED LADY!

Answer 11

Maybe this will wake some women up to the fact that they can't just keep popping out babies and expecting someone else to pay for them. It's up to the mothers of these children, too. I was only making eight bucks an hour when I had my son, and the father left. I did it on my own.