Pro-Life Group Condemns Men’s Rights "Abortion Bias" Lawsuit 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 10, 2006
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A lawsuit filed by a men’s rights organization saying men should have the same right as women to end their responsibilities towards a pregnancy is coming under fire from a leading pro-life women’s group. Concerned Women for America says the suit filed by The National Center for Men is a "deplorable proposition."
"This is merely an attempt for these men to avoid their responsibilities if their ‘girlfriends’ shoulder their own duties and refuse to have an abortion,” said Dr. Janice Crouse, CWA’s senior fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute.
“It is another way that The National Center for Men wants men to be able to have sex without consequences; they want men to live scot-free, with no accountability," Crouse added.
Crouse said the lawsuit was disingenuous because NCM acknowledges it is unlikely to prevail in court, but rather wants to spark national debate in the process.
Crouse explained that fathers are increasingly absent in society and the lawsuit merely encourages men to become more flippant about their roles as fathers and their responsibility to both mother and child.
“Fathers must start acting like men and accept responsibility for their actions," she said. This lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt to save a few bucks and get out of kid duty."
The men’s rights group filed the lawsuit yesterday in the U.S. District Court in Michigan that it’s calling the Roe v. Wade for men.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Saginaw resident Matt Dubay, a 25 year-old computer programmer who was ordered to pay child support for his ex-girlfriend’s daughter.
The lawsuit claims ordering Dubay to pay child support is a violation of the Constitution’s equal protection clause because women can have abortions of babies they don’t want to support.
"There’s such a spectrum of choice that women have — it’s her body, her pregnancy and she has the ultimate right to make decisions," Mel Feit, director of the National Center for Men, told the Associated Press.
"I’m trying to find a way for a man also to have some say over decisions that affect his life profoundly," he said.
Dubay says his former girlfriend lied to him that she had a physical condition that prevented her from becoming pregnant. He said she knew he didn’t want to have a baby and told AP she confirmed she could not get pregnant.
"What I expect to hear (from the court) is that the way things are is not really fair, but that’s the way it is," he told the Associated Press. "Just to create awareness would be enough, to at least get a debate started."
Courts have previously ruled in similar cases that the need to provide for children outweighs the unfairness in reproductive law in society.
Should Dubay win his case, there is some concern that such a decision could drive up the number of abortions.
Feminists for Life, a pro-woman pro-life group, notes that some fathers put women in a situation that makes them feel financially pressured into having an abortion by threatening to withdraw or actually withdrawing their financial support if the woman does not have an abortion.
"Statistics gathered by abortion supporters reveal that the primary reasons women with unintended pregnancies turn to abortion are lack of financial resources and lack of emotional support," the group says. "Many women also say they felt abandoned, or even coerced into having an abortion. Despite child support laws, some fathers threaten to withhold support."
Related web sites:
Concerned Women for America – https://www.cwfa.org
Feminists for Life of America – https://www.feministsforlife.org
