A Woman Impregnating Herself With a Discarded Condom. Has this happened?

In My Humble Opinion
21

dwc: What’s unequal is that in once case, the semen was freely supplied, but was misused without consent of the supplier, and in the second instance, the semen was obtained without consent. In neither instance should the men be charged with support, because they didn’t want to produce a child.

Well, it’s certainly unfair that the woman got a child she wanted while the man had to pay support for a child he didn’t want, because of the woman’s deception (and possibly even criminal acts). But this has nothing to do with some flaw in the implementation of “equal rights”: this is just due to the fact that one partner happened to be an unscrupulous rat. The fact that the unscrupulous rat in these cases happened to be the female partner is irrelevant.

It would be just as unfair if the genders were reversed, and a man impregnated a woman without her knowledge. The parallels to your two situations might be: (1) she consented to sex but didn’t realize there was a risk of pregnancy (“nothing to worry about, honey, I had a vasectomy!”), or (2) she wasn’t even aware of the sex act (say, she got drunk and passed out in a hot tub, or something).

In either situation, if she remained unaware of the pregnancy or was unable to get an abortion before the cutoff for legal termination of pregnancy, she would be forced to go through with pregnancy and childbirth, and she would also be responsible for child support, even though she didn’t want to produce a child.

dwc: When a man has no intention of causing impregnation and doesn’t willing or knowing behave in a fashion to cause such, actions by the female to cause same are deceptive by nature, and should eliminate any and all obligations of the male.

Morally, I agree with you. Similarly, when a woman has no intention of becoming pregnant, and a man impregnates her without her consent or knowledge, then the man’s actions are deceptive, and the woman should have no obligations. Morally speaking.

Legally speaking, however, the injustice done to a parent tends to take second place to the financial well-being of the child. The courts generally require biological parents to be responsible for support, and don’t concern themselves with whether he or she was tricked or forced into parenthood unwillingly.

As far as I know, the only recourse for someone in such a situation is to sue the dishonest partner for damages. If there was actual rape committed in the impregnation, the injured party could also press criminal charges, but from a strictly financial point of view that might not be a good solution. If the dishonest partner is serving a jail sentence for rape, then the burden of support and care for the child falls even more heavily on the remaining parent.

22

When I was a horny teenager, there was a persistent story going around, about an unfortunate teenage girkl who found herself pregnant. She was at a loss to understand, because she hadn’t slept with any boys…then she remembered-she had gone swimmng at a public swimming pool!
Could this actually happen? A champion swimmer sperm managed to get to her? Inquiring minds want to know!

23

But that doesn’t change the fact that the child needs and deserves support from her parents. I understand the idea that it’s unfair to the father - hell yeah it’s unfair, and women who engage in such practices (thankfully, it’s a small number) oughta be put in jail. But the kid’s needs come first.

I’m not normally one of those “won’t somebody think of the children?”-types, but focusing on the parents’ rights at the detriment to the kid isn’t fair either. Worse is imagining who’s going to raise the child - a woman who commits such an act oughta be in jail, but if the father is not interested in raising a child, it’s one more kid in the foster care system. I think that the system is unfairly maligned and it’s the best option for a lot of kids, but at its best it’s not a very good option.

24

Snopes is your friend.

25

When a person who happens to be a parent commits a crime (murder, bank robbery, rape, what-have-you), the fact that this person is a parent is generally considered to be not at all relevant when punishing the perpetrator of the crime. As it shouldn’t: it would be bizarre to let, for example, a mass murderer go free, just because thay have a child.
I do not see what’s so special about crimes that involve reproduction, in this regard. A crime is nevertheless a crime, and if society refuses to punish the perpetrator of a certain kind of crime, then society is saying that it is perfectly alright to commit said crime. And that’s bad. That’s like saying “Oh, well, that’s wrong, but we’re not actually going to do anything to stop you.” A law that is not enforced is worthless.
It’s sad when the punishment for a crime also negatively affects the innocent, but that applies to every single punishment handed out by any court anywhere, ever.

26

According to Tom Leykis (we’re not in General Questions anymore), it’s not that uncommon for a woman to inseminate herself with an inverted, used condom.

He now advises his listeners to mix habanero sauce with the semen in the discarded condoms to get revenge on women who do this. His listeners have called in with success stories, saying that these women let out blood-curdling screams and had to be taken off in an ambulance for treatment.

27

I heard that one, hilarious. That lady deserved it too.

I strongly believe were this situation to be reversed between the role of the male and female, barring the anatomical impossibilities, that the court case outcomes would have been far different.

28

I had to google Tom Leykis. I know people who have webpages are not always the most reliable sources of information, but this sounds like an elaborate joke on part of the morning show DJ and his “listeners”.
I’m astounded that anyone would be unable to see or smell habanero sauce.

29

Are there any instances when a man can legally force a woman to abort? These two cases would seem good candidates for such an action if the men wished it.

30

While a tiny part of me wants to agree with you, Balduran, that’s a scary path we’d be headed down. I don’t think there is any legal way for a person to force another person into any medical procedure. The only exception that comes to mind is when someone is declared unfit to make decisions for themselves, like a coma patient.

31

What people are forgetting here is that not only does the woman have the right to abort the pregnancy, but also the right to give up the baby for adoption, which the father does not.

So it is entirely up to the mother as to whether the father is on the hook for child support. Even if she impregnanted herself without any sort of consensual sex act with her on the part of the father.

On the other hand, for instance, if a father lied about vasectomy status, the mother still has the option of aborted or giving the child away. Whereas the father does not.

Which is not to say that there are no courts that would give the lying father custody if the mother wanted to give up the baby to adoption, which shouldn’t be allowed either (barring some sort of legally permissible situation which established the dad as a caregiver.)

Just that in both instances, the mother has the choice whether to go through the shared expenses of child rearing: in the one case, when the dad was deceptive, she has the choice; when the mom was deceptive, she still holds the decision making power. Wouldn’t call that equality.

32

I thought in cases where the father was known, both had to give consent to the child being placed for adoption. Most of my legal knowledge comes from watching *Law & Order * episodes, so if anybody knows what’s true about thier state or country, can you please chime in?
Ludovic, I don’t think we’re forgetting your points, we’re trying to remember that child support payments exist for the good of the child. And we’re buying into the idea that the child is innocent of the circumstances of its conception.

33

Nope. Chlorine kills sperm, for one. Two, ladies, even while swimming, do not get water inside them because the vagina is rather like a sock of meat- if nothing is in it, it will stay closed and the labia further curtain it off.

Snopes also debuks this one.

But please, no man chowder at the Y, OK?

34

May I be the first to congratulate you on making this unique and wonderful comparison…and now that you have I will never be able to tenderize Mrs. Gaffer’s loins with my kielbasa without this phrase popping into my head.

Thank you again.

35

Hey, any time. I take my opportunities as a educator quite seriously, and always want to be sure the information presented provides clear and vivid imagery.

36

Please ignore this post.
Eve

37

I think you misunderstood me - I support punishment for women who do things like this (and I’m not sure if impregnating yourself with a used condom is technically a crime or not, but it oughta be). I just regret the fact that it means the kid gets put in the foster care system or stuck with a father who didn’t want her. That doesn’t mean the mother shouldn’t be held liable for what she did.

38

Washington or Oregon - can’t remember which - has a law that basically says if bio dad wasn’t around long enough to realize he’d knocked up his partner, he is no more than a sperm donor with no right to make adoption decisions.

In most states, “dad” had better be around to sign away rights, or a “reasonable effort” needs to be made to find him. If he shows up later and wants to raise the child, courts have been known to pull the child from the homes of adoptive parents - its the adoptive parent nightmare - that your birthmom lied about who dad was and got some male friend of hers to sign - and it turns out dad is someone else who shows up two years later. Oh, and birthmom will be paying child support.

39

I’d say that all other things being equal, a child would be better off being adopted than with a single mom who simultaneously connive to impregnate themselves and expect the dad to pick up the tab. I’d say that’s pretty good evidence she wouldn’t be a fit mom.

40

Just to extend the hypothetical a little more – perhaps to the point of absurdity – what if a couple have sex, and another woman takes the discarded condom and impregnates herself.

Should the man pay child support?

Remember, he never had sex with the mother, but, we have noted above that the child is innocent of the circumstances of his or her conception…