From: (Chris Burian) 
Subject: Re: A proposal for reproductive freedom for BOTH sexes
Originator: cburian@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 22:31:43 GMT

karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) writes:

>What I envision is a law which provides all of the following:

>1)	Provides a declaration of a woman's right to choose up to the 12th
>	week of pregnancy whether or not to have an abortion -- as a federal
>	law.  Not on privacy grounds -- but on ownership of one's body.

>1.5)	Provides a declaration that in the event that a woman does not want
>	to keep a child, but also does not wish to abort for any reason, may
>	place said child up for adoption at birth.  The male parent shall 
>	have the right of first refusal to adopt a child produced in this 
>	circumstance.

>2)	Provides a declaration that >men< have the right, up to the 12th
>	week of pregnancy of a women that they are the father, to state 
>	whether or not they want the rights and responsibilities of the
>	foetus in-utereo.  Include a provision that should the pregnancy be
>	concealed from the man, that he has 30 days from the date of
>	discovery to declare his intentions.

>	Rights (1) and (2) are to apply >regardless< of the marital status
>	of the parties.  (Should married parties disagree on these points 
>	there may not be a marriage shortly thereafter)

>3)	Provides a declaration that in custody cases, and in the event of
>	a split of a present-case family unit, that both parties will be
>	presumed to be equally capable of parenting, and that the split
>	shall be 50-50 with regards to custody.  Further, the default 
>	support award shall be >zero< (since both parents have the 
>	responsibility half the time, they both inherently bear half the
>	costs).  In particular, repeal the "tender years" doctrine at
>	the federal level and require proof by preponderance of the
>	evidence that a parent is >unsuitable< -- not "less suitable" --
>	before the default custody split of 50-50 is modified.

>	Further, should one parent choose to move away from the original area
>	where the divorce took place, the parent which decides to move shall 
>	bear the cost(s) of transporting the child(ren) involved to comply
>	with the custody decision.  In no case shall this movement be
>	grounds for modification of custody.

>4)	Provide a declaration that any allegation of abuse made by one
>	parent or another which is proven false and baseless shall be:
>	1)	A class X felony (similar to dealing narcotics)
>	2)	Immediately cause the accusing person to be ineligible to
>		receive further custody of children in said dispute.

>5)	Provide that interference with custody arrangements of any kind 
>	by a parent is grounds for immediate loss of custody of the child(ren)
>	affected, and is additionally a federal felony.  This is intended to 
>	prevent situations where parents "impound" their children against a 
>	court order or in the hopes of "swinging" a custody dispute.

   This is a *very* reasonable and well-thought-out proposal.  The problem
   in getting it passed is that it has enemies on both sides: the minority
   of women who are professional victims and consider men to be oppresive
   walking wallets, and the minority of paternalistic men (legislators
   and judges) who consider women to be inherently inferior and thus in
   need of extra "protection." 

>I expect to get flamed to hell for this suggestion.  Nonetheless, I believe
>that a >balanced< approach such as this, which can be supported by both men
>and women, is the only way both men and women will manage to guarantee their
>reproductive freedom >and< their rights and responsibilities with regards to
>minor children.
   
   Any flames will come from closed-minded people in the above-mentioned
   two groups.

>Anyone want to join in on this one and see if we can get some legislative
>action on this proposal at a federal level?

>--
>Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl)
>Data Line: [+1 312 248-0900] Anon. arch. (nuucp) 00:00-06:00 C[SD]T
>Request file: /u/public/sources/DIRECTORY/README for instructions


	Christopher Burian---

Newsgroups: alt.dads-rights,misc.legal,alt.activism,soc.women,soc.men