Paper abortion

Paper abortion, also known as statutory abort, is a term that refers to the proposed ability of the biological father, before the birth of the child, to opt out of any rights, privileges, and responsibilities toward the child, including financial support. By this means, before a child is born a man would be able to absolve himself of both the privileges and demands of fatherhood, in a similar way that women can through abortion or adoption (including through safe haven laws).

Debate and public attention

Support

Advocates argue that it would give men and women as close to equal opportunities as possible. Some argue that it would give women more freedom, allowing those who want to become mothers without having to share the rights and duties of parenthood with men an additional way to do so. Supporters say that it would decrease the abortion rate. Laurie Shrage, professor of political philosophy, questions men should be 'penalized for being sexually active', and she puts the subject into a perspective of feminists who had to fight the same idea with different gender portent. Consenting a sexual intercourse isn't the same as consenting parenthood, she writes furthermore. Both men and children are punished, according to professor Shrage; children have to live with an absent father who never 'voluntarily' became a parent.

if women’s partial responsibility for pregnancy does not obligate them to support a fetus, then men’s partial responsibility for pregnancy does not obligate them to support a resulting child.

— Elizabeth Brake in the Journal of Applied Philosophy, 2005

Opposition

Paper abortion has met opposition by those who see it as an excuse for men to shirk their responsibilities as a father. Critics say that men should use birth control or practice abstinence if they want to avoid the financial and personal responsibilities of fatherhood. Critics also argue that a father's paper abortion is different from a female abortion since a child is born. Thus the best interests of the child should weigh more than equal opportunity to deny parenthood.

By country

Denmark

The concept of a paper abortion was first introduced in Denmark in 2000 by the socioeconomicist Henrik Platz. He says that it is necessary from an egalitarian perspective, to ensure that women and men have equal rights under the law. According to a Gallup poll from 2014 and earlier polls, between 40% and 70% of Danes agree with legalizing paper abortion.