This proposed legislation is nothing but asinine:

Led by Rep. John Adams, a group of state legislators have submitted a bill that would give fathers of unborn children a final say in whether or not an abortion can take place.

It’s a measure that, supporters say, would finally give fathers a choice.

“This is important because there are always two parents and fathers should have a say in the birth or the destruction of that child,” said Adams, a Republican from Sidney. “I didn’t bring it up to draw attention to myself or to be controversial. In most cases, when a child is born the father has financial responsibility for that child, so he should have a say.”

As written, the bill would ban women from seeking an abortion without written consent from the father of the fetus. In cases where the identity of the father is unknown, women would be required to submit a list of possible fathers. The physician would be forced to conduct a paternity test from the provided list and then seek paternal permission to abort.

Claiming to not know the father’s identity is not a viable excuse, according to the proposed legislation. Simply put: no father means no abortion.

Not only does this attack the mother’s choice, this places a ridiculous workload on the physician to track down a potential list of fathers. That’s NOT the doctors’ role, it’s the mother’s and the mother is the final responsible party- not the father. Financial responsibility aside, two people who conceive and aren’t staying together are not equal. The woman will almost always be the parent doing most of the raising and financial support.

I don’t dislike or discourage men who want to be a parent to a child, and I DO think that both adults should talk about their options civilly. This legislation seems to assume that in all cases where an abortion is sought, that’s not occurring.

To play Devil’s Advocate for a moment: what about if the potential father is dead? What if he gets run over by a beer truck two weeks after conception? And cremated?

And people wonder why I left Ohio.

Technorati Tags: state legislators, abortion, fathers, Republican, Ohio