A few days ago Elle magazine ran a very interesting story about paternal rights and abortion, focusing on a couple by the name of Greg Bruell and Sandra Hedrick.

Let me set the stage for you:

Greg and Sandra were a sexually active couple, but they were practicing family planning. Sandra was on the pill. However, they had an understanding: if Sandra’s birth control was to fail and she got pregnant, she would terminate the pregnancy without wavering.

Eventually, Sandra did get pregnant, twice. She terminated the first pregnancy. However, during her OB-GYN appointment for the second pregnancy Sandra made “a bad move” of looking at the ultrasound. She realized that as a woman in her late 30s, this might be her last chance to have a baby, and told Greg she was keeping it.

Feeling betrayed, Greg broke up with Sandra: although he had pleaded with his ex-wife for the two children he already had, he felt that he was done having kids when he met Sandra.

So Greg washed his hands of Sandra’s pregnancy. End of story, right? Think again: two months later Greg was served with papers. Sandra was suing him for child support. This is the story of how Greg Bruell became a spokesperson for male reproductive rights.

This is one of those stories where I think there is no right answer—at least in my opinion. It is an interesting story and does raise a lot of questions. Do woman have all the choices as far as birth is concerned (termination, adoption, child support)? Are men agreeing to be responsible for a baby by virtue of engaging in sex? If you say yes, then that mirrors the pro-life argument that a woman is agreeing to be responsible for a child by engaging in sex. If there is eventually a law that absolves a man of financial support in a child’s life is it fair that society picks up the tab for that child?

I think one thing most of us reading this can agree on is a man can never force a woman to carry a baby she does not want. But what about the other questions in the Elle article?

All I can really say is I understand where Greg is coming from, but that if someone has to pick up the tab for his kid quite frankly I would rather the money come from his pocket instead of mine.

I found this article through Digg, and here are some of the comments it received:

"Reproductive rights are anything but equal."

"If a woman can't be forced to be an incubator for children she doesn't want, then she shouldn't be able to force a man to be a piggy bank for children he doesn't want. Simple as that." "If a man has no right to choose, a man should not be held responsible for the child he has no rights over."

"[W]hen a man has no reproductive rights why should he have reproductive responsibility."

What are your thoughts?