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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism: chat

Original poster

Single men have a right to start a family

147 replies

Thecontentedcat · 20/10/2016 20:39

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/19/single-men-will-get-the-right-to-start-a-family-under-new-defini/
I have not seen a thread on this yet, so apologies if this has already been done - but I find this recent development deeply worrying. How can anyone have a right to start a family?
What if: man and woman have ons, woman gets pregnant, wants abortion, man wants to exercise his 'right' to start a family and compel woman to carry to term? I don't think we can grow babies in jars yet, so this is either nonsense or very worrying.

OP posts:
YoScienceBitch · 20/10/2016 20:41

IM guessing they'll be assigned a surrogate won't they?

Original poster
Thecontentedcat · 20/10/2016 20:44

yes, probably paid for, which leads to all sorts of dark roads, women are not breeding cattle.

OP posts:
YoScienceBitch · 20/10/2016 20:45

I'm sure the women will be consenting! I know a few women who are surrogates they love it.

mycatstares · 20/10/2016 20:45

Would you have an issue with a single woman using a surrogate to start a family?

Original poster
Thecontentedcat · 20/10/2016 20:49

I have an issue with paid for surrogacy full stop, yes. People's bodies are not commodities.

OP posts:
Manumission · 20/10/2016 20:50

"It puts a stake in the ground and says an individual's got a right to reproduce whether or not they have a partner. It's a big change."

How do you grant someone a legal right to the use of someone else's body? It's backhanded commodification of women's reproductive ability.

I don't know whether to laugh or be terrified. The potential implications are mind boggling.

Original poster
Thecontentedcat · 20/10/2016 20:51

Exactly manumission.

OP posts:
Manumission · 20/10/2016 20:52

women will be consenting! I know a few women who are surrogates they love it.

But the 'right' will exist irrespective of the supply of consenting surrogates.

Which is a nonsense.

mycatstares · 20/10/2016 20:53

If a woman is absolutely fine and happy to be a surrogate and everything is handled legally, then there's really nothing to be againstConfused..

mycatstares · 20/10/2016 20:54

How do you both feel about egg donors and Sperm donors?

onlythedaze · 20/10/2016 20:55

Well, women have the right to use a sperm donor.

onlythedaze · 20/10/2016 20:55

X post!

Original poster
Thecontentedcat · 20/10/2016 20:56

Paid for surrogacy is illegal in the U.K., and we have a huge shortage of surrogates. I think that tells you everything you need to know.

OP posts:
abbsismyhero · 20/10/2016 20:56

What if he just goes out and has unprotected sex can he compel someone not to have an abortion? Can he in effect force someone to have his child?

mycatstares · 20/10/2016 20:57

What about a woman who can't carry a baby so can't use an egg donor, would you have an issue with her using a surrogate?

abbsismyhero · 20/10/2016 20:58

Yes women have the right to use sperm donations but its there body the single man would need to use someone else's body

YoScienceBitch · 20/10/2016 20:59

Maybe the NHS will start to offer incentives for women to become surrogates. I don't see the problem. As long as she knows what she's doing and is consenting it's absolutely her right to do as she wishes. I would happily carry a child for someone desperate to become a parent if I wasn't so terrible at being pregnant.

SomeDyke · 20/10/2016 21:00

Seems to say it's WHO, and redefines the word 'infertility' to include single people (men and women), who want kids but don't have them (cos they can't find a partner)? Well, I kind of understand why someone might try this to enable lesbian couples, say, to get access to sperm donors etc, but by trying to be 'inclusive' they've made a right mess of it! So, if a woman has access to appropriate medical technology if her husband can't produce sperm, then logically a woman with a female partner should have access to the same facilities. Their needs are the same. But just as you can object to an infertile woman in a heterosexual relationship using another woman as a paid surrogate, so you can also object to an infertile lesbian couple doing the same, or a male gay couple. But giving everyone the 'right' to have babies? To quote Monty Python ' where's the fetus going to gestate? In a box?' -- we know the answer to that one, poor womens wombs for hire...............

Original poster
Thecontentedcat · 20/10/2016 21:01

mycatstares I have made my views on surrogacy clear already.
This thread is about single men having a 'right' to have a family, when they cannot do so without a woman. Does the man's right to have a family trump a woman's right to have bodily autonomy. Will women be compelled to have children to enable this right? Can this 'right' be used as a defence in a rape case?

OP posts:
abbsismyhero · 20/10/2016 21:02

I'm sorry but the NHS is struggling as it is with IVF we have national shortages of eggs and sperm this wont work in real life

OlennasWimple · 20/10/2016 21:03

One step closer to the Handmaid's Tale...

Manumission · 20/10/2016 21:03

Well, women have the right to use a sperm donor

But that's the 'right' to some bodily fluid (strange concept but not as worrying). It's not the right to the use of the body of an autonomous individual for an extended period.

The change moves surrogacy from being purely voluntary to being a service the NHS would have to source and purchase to the level of demand. So a degree of compulsion is being introduced somewhere in the supply chain and more actors will be involved in the transaction.

abbsismyhero · 20/10/2016 21:03

Well everything else is used to justify rape I wanted a baby is next on the shit list

ftw · 20/10/2016 21:04

I don't particularly have an issue with anyone using a surrogate (though I don't love it) but I have an issue with anyone's right to use a surrogate being enshrined in law. Because it requires surrogates.

I also have an issue with infertility-through-lack-of-sex-with-opposite-sex-partner being classified as a disability.

mycatstares · 20/10/2016 21:04

poor womens wombs for hire

That's incredibly insulting to surrogates. Its a beautiful amazingly kind thing to do for another human, if you can't understand that then fine, but don't make such stupid statments on their behalf.