I hate this. I think the father should have the same rights - if that's the right word for it.
I disagree. The father (assuming the man decides to stick around) doesn't have to bear the same level of responsibility or physical risk during a pregnancy as the woman. It's not a man's body which has to nurture the foetus (and later the baby) and help it to grow.
I mean, if a woman can decide to abort her child despite the father wanting to keep it, then why can't a man walk away from all responsibility for that child if the mother decides to keep it?
But that's precisely what happens already. Men walk away leaving the woman all the responsibility and only her resources to raise the child while trying to work and afford a decent life for it. Such things like paying alimony are not just to stop the irresponsible man, they're also to secure the child's future. These laws were brought in because, for centuries, men would rut women they weren't married to and sire ********. The annoying thing about ******** was that recognising them could seriously mess up things like inheritance, and caring for them and the mother can complicate marriages, one's position at court, in business negotiations or in power plays. Also, caring for the child and mother (who might be nothing more than a prostitute the bloke took a tumble with) would add extra financial pressure with practically no return (******** back then had no legal rights). Laws requiring the father to pay for the upkeep was the legal way of righting the wrongs of a father abandoning a mother and their child for one reason or another and leaving them to fend for themselves.
Watch the first two seasons of the TV series Game of Thrones for a rough idea about how ******* children (particularly those of nobility) would have been treated in older societies.
Or if we're going to say the father must take responsibility for the child, then he should be able to prevent the mother from getting an abortion and he should get full custody of that child.
No. No. No. Women do not lose or forsake their bodily autonomy when they become pregnant and they are not property or chattels for men to control as they please. Pregnant women are not walking incubators with no rights or sense of self. They're human beings with needs. This is the 21st Century, not the 1st.
Edit: I love how that one instance of '********' was censored but the others weren't.