Angie Pratt: There Are No Virgin Births

There are no virgin births. It takes two to tango. Every child has a biological mother and a biological father.

Abortions result when a mother and a father conceive a child that they don't want. It does not take an Einstein to figure out that "Just say No!" is naïve and flat doesn't work. Simply preventing a mother from having an abortion does not get at the root cause.

The problem today is that only one party of the two required has a true incentive to want birth control - the woman. Why is that? Because society does not hold the father responsible for his participation in conception.

No one wants to have an abortion. We need to address the number one reason that makes women want to have an abortion - Economics.

If men knew that they would be held financially responsible for every child that they create, the world would be turned upside down. If a man knew that a causal sexual encounter might lead to 18 years of financial responsibility he would have an incentive to either not indulge himself or to at least use some form of birth control.

Let's go ahead and make abortion illegal for all incidents except for the mother's health. Simultaneously, however, let's make every father financially responsible from the moment of conception.

This can be readily achieved by making every man register with a DNA bank. Then every child born in the United States would automatically have its father identified. Once identified, a father is held financially responsible for every child that he has for 18 years.

Enforcement of financial responsibility would be mandatory. A father would have to provide monthly child support to the mother of each of his children until they reach the age of 18. The amount of child support would be 20% of his income or $500, which ever is greater. Jail sentences would be applied to any father who did not meet his financial obligation. After all, the purpose of punishment is to elicit proper behavior and to prevent bad behavior from occurring.

There are many additional benefits that would be received in addition to eliminating abortions. Some examples are:
- Reduced costs of government supplied child welfare;
- Fewer incidents of venereal disease;
- Reduced heterosexual transmission of aids;
- Children would know who their fathers were.

This idea is straightforward and moral. Any and all specific implementation issues can be worked out. And, obviously while the situations that a mother doesn't take financially responsibility are relatively rare, this concept would actually apply to both men and women. There would be no discrimination.

It is important to note that most fathers take responsibility for their children. It is only a minority of men who do not. Thus it is in the best interest of society as a whole (men, women and children) that we make sure that the few who are deadbeats are held responsible.

If we can take our shoes off at an airport we can certainly have our mouths swabbed to make sure that every child born in the United States has a mother and a father. If we can be registered as gun owners we can certainly keep a database of DNA. If we can keep everybody's tax records private, we can certainly keep their DNA records private.

Obstructionist's motives against this bill will be transparent. To not want to hold both mothers and fathers responsible for the children they conceive is simply unacceptable in a society that wants to outlaw abortions and considers itself moral.

Written by Angie Pratt ( http://www.politicalposts.com).

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