# Men's rights in certain abortion cases **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 7, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-rights-in-certain-abortion-cases/325247 "2005-10-07T22:33:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Faust\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e56c9b/32.png) [@Faust\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faust_1)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-rights-in-certain-abortion-cases/325247/201 "2005-10-11T04:33:58Z")
What if we allowed men and women to sign legally binding contracts _before_ they had sex, in which they could agree on who would be financially responsible for any offspring? This would alleviate the unfairness issue, but at the same time women would know ahead of time what the man’s intentions were, and could plan accordingly (for instance, not having sex with him at all). ---
**Author:** ![La\_Llorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@La\_Llorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/La_Llorona)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-rights-in-certain-abortion-cases/325247/202 "2005-10-11T04:43:10Z")
Psst, **Faust.** (why the period? Was **Faust** taken?), post #27. Personally, I don’t feel it’s the most desirable option by any means, but I don’t know of anything better that’s even remotely practical…anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-rights-in-certain-abortion-cases/325247/203 "2005-10-11T04:49:33Z")
Ohh, an contract. What a great idea. I think I will sign it right away. Hold on a second. _Faust_? _tsk, tsk._ You almost had me there. Better luck next time. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-rights-in-certain-abortion-cases/325247/204 "2005-10-11T09:18:58Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#): > > 1. Quite true, but I am not on his side, I am on my own side, tearing my own holes in your claims > > 2. Your amazing ability to hand waive his points means no one will get anywhere. (Que the irony.) > > 3. You still haven’t actually torn apart my claim, or shown why we should change the situation, aside from the fact that you don’t like child support, or abortion. 1. Your ability to perceive yourself as tearing holes in anyone’s claims remains, as ever, quite astonishing. Explain what claim of mine you have torn holes in, and how. 2. The words are English (once we’ve dealt with the spelling) and the sentence structure is somewhere near grammatical, but I haven’t a clue what you think you’re on about. Have you? What “hand waving” have I been doing, exactly? 3. I believe I may have done all that I set out to do, which had nothing to do with showing why we should change the situation, and I don’t see where I took a stand on either child support or abortion. No wonder you go around thinking you’re winning debates all the time :dubious: (I laughed at the Faust funny. It was enough of a rib-tickler for me to overlook, temporarily, that it was Mephistopheles who imposed dubious contracts, and Faust who signed them.) ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-rights-in-certain-abortion-cases/325247/205 "2005-10-11T12:23:51Z")
> [@Faust.](#): > > What if we allowed men and women to sign legally binding contracts _before_ they had sex, in which they could agree on who would be financially responsible for any offspring? We do this already. It’s called “marriage”. 😃 As for the rest, essentially what **Kimstu** says. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-rights-in-certain-abortion-cases/325247/206 "2005-10-11T13:07:10Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > 1. I believe I may have done all that I set out to do, which had nothing to do with showing why we should change the situation, and I don’t see where I took a stand on either child support or abortion. I think this sums up what kind of debate this is right here. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-rights-in-certain-abortion-cases/325247/207 "2005-10-11T14:25:47Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#): > > I think this sums up what kind of debate this is right here. Hmm? No, I chimed in on one particular point that caught my eye. I don’t see where this obliged me to comment on every subject already picked over by plenty of other writers. I _could_, for all the good greasing the rails of an abortion trainwreck ever did, but I opted not to do so. I certainly don’t think my unwillingness to participate in a more than strictly limited manner invalidates the whole debate. Good lord, I don’t even think _your_ entry into it invalidates the whole debate, although I’ve yet to see you add very much to it (next up, **Mal** complains about water being wet). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mens-rights-in-certain-abortion-cases/325247.md?page=10)