Diopolis wrote:Galloism wrote:While I certainly encourage condom use for a host of reasons, real world effectiveness is only about 82%. Far from a sure thing.
Besides, we offer multiple safeties to prevent teenage moms from suffering a lifetime of poverty provided they decide to use literally any of them (including those available after the child is born).
It doesn’t seem in any way inequitable to give the same rights teenage moms already have to teenage dads.
Given the inherent differences in situation is seems that doing so is rather difficult, no?
Politically, yes. Practical application, no.
As the law stands now, the interests of an already-born child come before the autonomy of either parent, with no or an extremely limited amount of severability.
This isn’t true. It's 100% false. It's a lie. Complete untruth. Absolutely no basis in reality. It's been oft repeated ad nauseum in the public, but it's just not true in any way in our society. The needs (and autonomy) are cared for in this order (generally speaking), from highest to lowest.
The mother
The child
The state
The father.
The mother’s needs and wants are paramount. If she wants to sever her responsibility, outside of unusual corner cases (incarceration, etc), she may do so for any reason or no reason at all, in only a matter of minutes, with little to no paperwork or explanation even required. It's is 100% her choice, with no blockers from the child's needs, state's needs, or other parent's wants/needs taken into account in any way at all. Only her needs and wants matter. No one else's.
Then, after her needs are met, the child’s needs are thought about. The child can’t make choices, but the child’s needs, although behind the mother’s are ahead of the state or father. So if the mother exercises her guaranteed right of abandonment, the state will care for the child. If she doesn’t, the state will help her force the father to help care for the child (more on this below). If he can’t, the state will step in and help care for the child (this net is inadequate but does exist).
Then the state’s concerns come into play. This means if the mother relinquishes, it looks for adoptive parents to take on the burden. If it can find them, the state's burden is relieved. If it can't, the state takes on teh burden - because the mother's needs and child's needs are ahead of the state. If she doesn’t, it looks for the father to take on the burden. If the father is unable, then it will - but then it will pursue the father til the day he dies to get its money back, because the state is more important than he is.
Last and certainly least, the fathers needs come into play. If the mother relinquished at step 1, she also forcibly terminates his rights and responsibilities without his input or consent. If she chooses to not do so, he is faced with automatic responsibility (but not rights, he has to fight for those) without his input or consent. If the state stepped in to help her because he was unable, the state will pursue him relentlessly until the day he dies to get its money back. He has no choices, no autonomy of any sort, and exists only to support the mother, child, and state - in that order.
Now, you can find unusual cases where the law has been applied the other way - just as you could find white people denied the vote under grandfather laws before they were struck down - but that doesn't change how the law is designed to function and actually functions in practice every day across the country.
Adding paternal severability would require changing that principle OR allowing the father to force the mother to take a severability option.
I do agree that the current paradigm (where the mother can force severability on the father without his input or consent) is particularly egregious. We could make that bidirectional, and everyone would suddenly see what a huge problem it is when social workers come take babies from mothers because fathers elected to sever both parents rights and responsibilities unilaterally (as mothers can do unilaterally now).
But really, we should just make it so either parent can sever without impacting the other.