Cloudsandtrees "Now that she is pregnant though, I think the law should give him the right to waive all his responsibility towards the child if he wants to."
That would be wide open to abuse and takes nothing of the child's wants or needs into consideration.
"The mother has that right because she can have an abortion if she doesn't want the responsibility, so a man should have that right too."
Waiving all responsibility is not the same as having a serious operation that affects the woman physically and emotionally and ends a life (I am pro-choice btw).
It might possibly compare to say she can put the baby up for adoption, in which case both the man and woman know they have a child in the world that they don't see or provide for.
But even then, the woman will have carried the child for nine months and everything in her life from her health to her finances could have been altered in every way possible. Once you are pregnant there is no easy get out clause for a woman regardless of her choice.
"It is fundamentally wrong that the woman can make such a life changing choice for someone else."
Which is why the man should take control at the point in which he can make the choice, when he choses to have sex with or without a condom.
Hamwidgeandcheps "No one should tell any woman to have a termination but I do feel for these blokes railroaded in to fatherhood."
They are not railroaded, they make a choice to have unprotected sex. Contraception and safe sex is the responsibility of both parties, so even if a woman claims to be on the pill or otherwise protected, the man still needs to take his own precautions. If for no other reason than to protect them both from a possible STI by using the condom and because the pill etc is not 100% effective.
If they have chosen not to bother with a condom, they have made a choice and can't claim to have been railroaded.