In what could be a landmark ruling in the United States, a 25-year-old man is bringing a case against a woman with whom he fathered a child after a very brief relationship; he alleges that told him she was using contraception, and that she was infertile.
The case has the backing of the National Center for Men, a group of activists who argue that since the man was apparently deceived into becoming a father, he should not have to pay maintenance to the child’s mother.
In a culture which is increasingly relying on explicit consent in matters of sex and reproduction, and in which women appear to be increasingly eager to have children, sometimes by extreme means, do we need to redefine what fatherhood is? Is fatherhood a matter of choice or happenstance? |
