From: cookc@aix.rpi.edu (Cathi Ann Cook)
Subject: The Value of a Man (repost)
Summary: equivalent responsibility for males in pregnancy
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 23:02:49 GMT


What is the value of a man?

What is he worth to his children?  Because, after all, the ultimate
biological purpose of males is that of starting and supporting families.

Unfortunately, men are currently allowed to walk away from that
responsbility scott-free.  If he runs away and can't be found, he
is released from responsibility.  If he finds that he would rather
not work than pay child support, he walks away from his responsibility.
I propose that we change this sad situation, and force men to take
responsibility for their actions.

Therefore, I propose the following.  If a man has sex and makes a
woman pregnant (whether or not he consented to the pregnancy or
even if he was raped), he is immediately apprehended and taken to
a local hospital, where he receives a visible tag.  This tag is
attached somewhere on his body, such as a hand or the ear, that
is difficult or impossible to hide.

The tag reads "Opted to the organ bank".  The tag means that, for
the duration of the pregnancy, his body is on permanent 
call for anyone who may need a part of his body to survive.  At
any time, day or night, his tag may be activated.  Once this
happens, he has 24 hours (maybe less) to report to the closest
hospital and donate whatever organ may be required of him.  If
he will not or can not report within that time, the tag begins
to release a metabolic poison that will eventually kill him
without, of course, damaging any of his organs in the process.

But of course, this is not a situation of giving without
receiving.  Any time that the man is called upon to donate an
organ, a fee will be paid to the woman carrying his child, with
a portion of that fee being put into trust for his unborn child.
He can go into the operating room happy that, no matter what the
outcome is, he is fulfilling his biological destiny by helping
to support his family.

Of course, there's a risk that he will be called upon to donate
his heart, or a portion of his brain, or some other reasonably
vital organ.  But really, the risk is too small to worry about.
When you consider the difficulties of tissue-matching with such
organs, and the number of people that can even afford to receive
a heart or lung transplant, the chances are vanishingly small 
that any given man will die from this system.  Now, it's 
undeniable that _some_ men will die.  But men have always risked
death in support of their families, whether from the tusks of
mastadons or falling from a construction site in a 30-story
building.  He will undoubtably be happy to make the sacrifice,
knowing that it will help bring a new life into the world.

And most men will escape with only minor damage.  How much could
one suffer from the loss of an ear or a few teeth (for after all
some men will have to volunteer a few minor organs to meet their
responsibilities), knowing that those organs had been sacrificed
in order to make another person whole?  Even if the man was 
originally against it, he would have to be a heartless monster
to remain angry after seeing the people he's helped.

And once the baby is born, his obligation is discharged.  He will
only face further responsibility if he chooses to.  If he wishes,
he can walk away from the child with no further contact.  He has
fulfilled his moral responsibility by offering the use of his body,
and no further action is required of him.

To those who wish to outlaw abortion, consider this scenario.  For
this is the exact risk you say that a woman must take _every_single_
_time_she_has_sex_.  Married or unmarried, voluntary sex or rape,
she risks her life and her health every time that she is involved
in coitus.  It is instantly clear to anyone who sees her that she
has had sex and become pregnant, regardless of the circumstances 
involved.  We ask only the same of you.

And consider the advantages!  Research on male contraceptives 
would go into OVERDRIVE!  Men would no longer lie about having had
a vasectomy!  Condom sales would SOAR!  Disease rates would plummet!
EVERYONE WOULD BE MUCH MORE RESPONSIBLE!!!  And isn't that what you
_really_want_?

(special note to drieux-a woman who really cared about you would
NEVER demand that you do that ikky sex stuff, knowing that she 
might be risking your life.)

So does anyone have any objections to this plan?  When can we get
started?

                          -rocker
Newsgroups: talk.abortion