Blog 5

The opinion piece I chose to write about is No, child support can’t be a choice.  This article was written by Carolyn Edgar and published on Salon.com. Child support easily becomes a heated debate for families with splitting parents. This article makes a point of stating that paying child support is not the equivalent of fatherhood, which men can easily opt out of. Edgar insists on the non-custodial parent paying child support because they too assumed the risk and bear the responsibility.

On the other hand, an article written by Anna March claims that fathers should not be made to pay child support and an abortion is as much the fathers choice as it is the mothers, since forced “fatherhood” is unfair to men. For example, this excerpt comes from author Anna March’s article Make fatherhood a man’s choice!, “Despite all of this and in complete keeping with my deep-seated feminism, I believe that making fatherhood optional—as motherhood is—and revamping the child support system to stop requiring financial support from noncustodial parents (usually men) who want to opt out early is good for women, men, and the kids in question. In addition, we should further our support of women who choose to opt out of motherhood via abortion or adoption as well.  It’s time to make parenthood a true choice, on every level.”

Most of objections of child support are coming from men, and those children who have been put in the crossfires of two un-agreeing parents. Child support is needed now more than ever for single mothers. The finances needed to raise a child do not come easily from one paycheck.  Financially supporting your child is the least that can be done if the decision is made to “opt out of fatherhood.”

The counterargument is made in the second to last paragraph when Edgar explains how the child support system needs some revamping as the children and system can be manipulated. It goes to show that just paying child support is not the answer to every situation, and if the father does not live to his responsibilities and he is not willing to “co-parent after a failed marriage or partnership,” than however inconvenient paying child support is it is nowhere as inconvenient as forced fatherhood.