Opinion ID: 2514340
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 22

Heading: Relationship harmony.

Text: In my view, none of the separate opinions sufficiently consider the delicate situation created between a man and a woman when the woman, especially one who is unwed, becomes pregnant, nor do they sufficiently consider the resultant sensitivity required. As the Supreme Court suggested on the general subject of abortion in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 153, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147, reh. denied 410 U.S. 959, 93 S.Ct. 1409, 35 L.Ed.2d 694 (1973): Mental and physical health may be taxed by child care. There is also the distress, for all concerned, associated with the unwanted child, and there is the problem of bringing a child into a family already unable, psychologically and otherwise, to care for it. In other cases, as in this one, the additional difficulties and continuing stigma of unwed motherhood may be involved. The Supreme Court also acknowledged the delicacy of the pregnancy issue in the marital context in Planned Parenthood of Missouri v. Danforth, 428 U.S. 52, 69-70, 96 S.Ct. 2831, 49 L.Ed.2d 788 (1976): We are not unaware of the deep and proper concern and interest that a devoted and protective husband has in his wife's pregnancy and in the growth and development of the fetus she is carrying.... Moreover, we recognize that the decision whether to undergo or to forego an abortion may have profound effects on the future of any marriage, effects that are both physical and mental, and possibly deleterious. And as mentioned previously, by law the decision whether to terminate the pregnancy is exclusively the mother's. The Court has held that `when the wife and the husband disagree on this decision, the view of only one of the two marriage partners [the mother's] can prevail.' Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 896, 112 S.Ct. 2791, 120 L.Ed.2d 674 (1992) (citing Danforth, 428 U.S. at 71, 96 S.Ct. 2831). In my view, the sensitivity required by the father is not only an important factor, but also one that must be kept at the forefront. One must consider whether legitimate efforts of the father, designed to ascertain the unwed pregnant woman's veracity, are nevertheless construed by her as serious assaults on her integrity. When a mother becomes aware of a father's efforts to ascertain her veracitywhether calling the grandmother or the sister, as the majority suggests, or hiring a detective or coming to Kansas himself those efforts can backfire. They can tip what already may be a precarious balance into the mother's unappealable decision to now obtain an abortion because she considers the father's efforts to be interfering with her unilateral right to abort. A mother might also realistically view the father's actions as stalking and a danger to her physically. Although the exact reasons are not provided, in Doe v. Queen, 347 S.C. 4, 552 S.E.2d 761 (2001), the pregnant unwed mother signed a criminal warrant against the father with whom she was no longer living and obtained a consent order to prohibit him from going near her for 1 year. And even assuming no word of the father's veracity checks gets back to the mother, or if it does and she nevertheless elects to remain pregnant, will the father be required to monitor mother's activities for the remainder of the pregnancy just in case she changes her mind? And even assuming the mother has not been driven away by father's actions, how may his actions affect the chances for eventually establishing a good relationship with her for the benefit of the couple and also the child? These concerns are not theoretical. Based upon mother's testimony, they were proven real in the instant case. According to her, for a period in May and June of 2004, she terminated telephone contact with father because she felt he questioned whether she was still pregnant after she had informed him months earlier of the abortion. Mother testified that she did not permit the communication to resume until June 25, when her only reason for then calling was to inform father that she had given birth to his son the day before. Once on the phone, however, she could not bring herself to tell him the truth. She testified that although grieving, she told him she was doing fine.