Neither Second-Class Citizens Nor Second-Class Parents
It stands to reason that courts will discriminate against fathers in custody matters because today, in the United States of America, fathers' rights are relegated to the ash heap the instant they become fathers.
The Roe decision specifically denies that any individual, group, or government has the right to enforce arbitrary religious, medical, philosophical, or legal standards on another citizen regarding the intrinsic value of an embryo/fetus until meaningful life worthy of constitutional protection begins at the third trimester of pregnancy.
Yet any prospective mother can march into state courts in all fifty states immediately after learning she's pregnant and have those courts impose the unconstitutional demand that the prospective father monetarily support that entity even when meaningful fetal life will not be achieved until months into the future . Those same states' laws (bowing to federal reproductive rights rulings, mind you) declare that the prospective mother has no legal obligation whatsoever for the health and welfare of the entity lacking meaningful life, a clearly indefensible and unconscionable denial of equal protection and due process to the prospective father.
To arrive at a correct understanding of why there are egregious double standards with regard to custody, one must first recognize that the legal double standard begins at the moment of conception. Establishing this simple fact in the minds of a critical mass of the public will allow this country to begin redress of the massive and grave miscarriage of justice that has taken place since Roe became law. With recognition that massive injustice is the norm today America may begin the process of clarifying Roe's findings that will lead to approximate legal parity in the sexes' reproductive rights.
The possibility exists that additional Supreme Court vacancies might occur during the remainder of President Bush's term; and whatever speculation may arise over the pros and cons of confirmation the central focus will all revolve around Roe v Wade.
It's absolutely necessary to begin a national discussion over how this ruling --- together with the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to our constitution --- prohibits any individual, group, or government from imposing a separate and distinct legal obligation upon either sex. Ask your senators to demand that any nominee for the Supreme Court openly declare his or her support for the constitutional imperative that prospective fathers must enjoy the approximate right to disavow the obligations of parenthood during the same window of opportunity that prospective mothers currently enjoy.
This is America; fathers are neither second-class parents nor are they second-class citizens. The simple fact that fathers are deemed second-class citizens at the moment of conception ensures that state and federal courts will forevermore deem them second-class parents --- as the reality of reproductive and custodial law currently attests.
The Roe decision specifically denies that any individual, group, or government has the right to enforce arbitrary religious, medical, philosophical, or legal standards on another citizen regarding the intrinsic value of an embryo/fetus until meaningful life worthy of constitutional protection begins at the third trimester of pregnancy.
Yet any prospective mother can march into state courts in all fifty states immediately after learning she's pregnant and have those courts impose the unconstitutional demand that the prospective father monetarily support that entity even when meaningful fetal life will not be achieved until months into the future . Those same states' laws (bowing to federal reproductive rights rulings, mind you) declare that the prospective mother has no legal obligation whatsoever for the health and welfare of the entity lacking meaningful life, a clearly indefensible and unconscionable denial of equal protection and due process to the prospective father.
To arrive at a correct understanding of why there are egregious double standards with regard to custody, one must first recognize that the legal double standard begins at the moment of conception. Establishing this simple fact in the minds of a critical mass of the public will allow this country to begin redress of the massive and grave miscarriage of justice that has taken place since Roe became law. With recognition that massive injustice is the norm today America may begin the process of clarifying Roe's findings that will lead to approximate legal parity in the sexes' reproductive rights.
The possibility exists that additional Supreme Court vacancies might occur during the remainder of President Bush's term; and whatever speculation may arise over the pros and cons of confirmation the central focus will all revolve around Roe v Wade.
It's absolutely necessary to begin a national discussion over how this ruling --- together with the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to our constitution --- prohibits any individual, group, or government from imposing a separate and distinct legal obligation upon either sex. Ask your senators to demand that any nominee for the Supreme Court openly declare his or her support for the constitutional imperative that prospective fathers must enjoy the approximate right to disavow the obligations of parenthood during the same window of opportunity that prospective mothers currently enjoy.
This is America; fathers are neither second-class parents nor are they second-class citizens. The simple fact that fathers are deemed second-class citizens at the moment of conception ensures that state and federal courts will forevermore deem them second-class parents --- as the reality of reproductive and custodial law currently attests.
posted by Steve at 6:45 PM
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