(February 24, 2020 at 8:24 am)Belacqua Wrote:(February 24, 2020 at 7:47 am)FlatAssembler Wrote: Belacqua
it's unethical to force a woman to carry a fetus if she doesn't want to.
Suppose the father doesn't want to pay to support the child after it's born. Is it ethical for the government to force him to pay?
How do we decide when a parent should be forced to support and when he or she shouldn't be forced?
Courts make these decisions all the time, it's not really a burning ethical question. The father of a child is generally obligated to contribute financially to the support of that child and is punished if he fails in that obligation. The mother generally contributes less financially because the burden of care tends to be on her.
But I'm not sure that the two situations have anything to do with one another. Carrying a foetus to term entails health risks, both physical and emotional. Signing a support cheque does not.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
