Schweizer Gerichtsurteil: Nur Mütter haben bei Abtreibungen das Recht zu entscheiden

22 comments

1. >__Switzerland’s highest court has ruled against the father of an unborn child, who had sued his ex-partner for terminating pregnancy at an advanced stage.__

   >Abortions are legal in Switzerland if they take place in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. If a woman has an abortion later, she is punished with up to three years in prison – unless she was deemed to be in an emergency situation.

   >When a man from the Swiss canton of Fribourg reported his ex-girlfriend for a late-term abortion, the public prosecutor’s office dropped the case after doctors had confirmed that the women was in a state of psychological distress.

   >The man however fought this up to the level of the Federal Court. He was of the opinion that, as the father of the unborn foetus, he was a “victim” under the definition of the law.

   >The highest Swiss court sees things differently: it states that the ban on late-term abortions protects the unborn child, not the man involved. And because a foetus does not have legal personality before birth, the father cannot be regarded as a victim. The man from Fribourg could thus not lodge a complaint, the court said.

   >“The position of the man is extremely weak,” says law professor Bijan Fateh-Moghadam from the University of Basel. “It is up to the mother alone to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy.”

   >Neither does the father need to be involved in late-term abortions. The legal scholar believes it is right that the law protects mothers from being pressurised by their partners.

   >Amnesty International Switzerland takes the same view. “No third party should have the right to oppose a pregnant person’s decision,” says Amnesty campaigner Cyrielle Huguenot. This is solely the decision of the pregnant woman.

   >Amnesty even wants the complete decriminalisation of abortions, in which case women would not be penalised for late terminations. However, this is a question that must be decided politically. In the meantime, the Federal Court’s judgement has merely clarified that the father cannot do anything about it if the authorities classify an abortion as legal.

   >And the decision is also welcomed by the umbrella organisation of Swiss men’s and fathers’ organisations.

   >“The judgement is correct – indeed, there is no alternative,” says the group’s managing director Markus Theunert. The umbrella organisation understands the father’s wish to have a say. However, “the only way to enforce the father’s right to have a say would inevitably involve men deciding on a woman’s physical integrity” – which is unacceptable, says Theunert.

2. As it should be. Their body, their choice.

3. Only a woman should decide what they want to do with their bodies. However, if they want to keep a child in contrast to a man’s wishes, they should have the sole financial responsibility for raising the child. As a man should not force a woman to have an abortion, in the same way a woman should not force a man to have a financial responsibility for 18 years.

4. As a father of late pregnancy termination (30 weeks), I fully understand how someone/father would feel wronged. Anyone who has not gone through the process simply cannot comprehend the pain. The pain of saying the words out loud to begin the process. The pain of seeing the heart beat for the last time. The pain of the doctor who has to perform the procedure. The pain of cancelling a baby shower. The pain of calling all of your friends, your family, and the no-longer grandparents to somehow tell them the baby is no longer coming.

   You just don’t know. You can’t know. You don’t want to know.

   But the men’s association in Switzerland is 100% correct. The mother must be the one to have the sole authority to decide. Period. My wife and I had many conversations privately and with doctors, and my position was always the same: that I had an opinion on what we should do, but the final decision was always hers, and that I would stand beside her and own her decision 50% no matter what. Always.

   Anyone fighting to prevent or take away the rights of women and their reproductive health is simply ignorant and evil.

   Edit: Switzerland not Sweden.

5. I think a lot of men could understand why he is upset about the abortion.

   That being said, an abortion can never, ever been anyone else’s choice other than the mother’s, no matter what.

   Can you imagine if a woman sued because she got pregnant when she insisted a man have a vasectomy?

6. If a women wants to keep the baby and the man doesnt, she alone needs to pay for that baby

7. While he should have some say, it’s ultimately her decision.

8. Was that so hard?

9. an abortion is a medical condition for the woman and her doctor to make decisions

10. Good for Switzerland. Sorry guys, women are the ones who get pregnant, they are the ones who carry it, give birth to it and can decide to terminate it. Period, end of story.

11. If women are the “soul” decision-maker regarding this then men should possess an inherent right to forego fathership within a given timeframe

12. Not to stir the pot, and I don’t take that position at all, but:

    Do fathers have a say on whether they want to legally be father to the child? Or are they tied after conception?

13. Abortion has nothing to do with legal parental responsibility and only has to do with bodily autonomy. If a man’s body is the only way to sustain someone elses life, he alone decides to support them with his body or not.

14. I’m a man with two kids, this is 100% reasonable. What kind of psycho makes a woman give birth that doesn’t want to?

15. Yet if she decides to keep it the guy is on the hook for 18 years of child support

16. I mean ,possibly dying is something I think men should really take a second to think about .

    Pregnancies even with modern technology is still a very complicated process.

    Women should have a right to stop men from miss using possible future generations.

    See how insane that sounds .

17. Switzerland has not been a forerunner of women’s rights. (Women got the right to vote in all elections fairly recently there.)

    It is good that they recognize that know one has any rights to another person’s body.

18. Legally, I 100% agree we should protect women’s bodily autonomy and this cannot be achieved if men are allowed to overrule women’s right to choose.

    Personally, as a man, I am very troubled by the thought that I could potentially have no say in whether my unborn child lives or dies. It’s a sad thought. Not sure there’s a better solution at this time than making sure you and your partner are on the same page regarding children.

19. This is going to be fun once it hits the front pages.

20. It’s a testament to how far the US has fallen that women have more rights in a county that didn’t let women vote until the 1970’s.

21. The man here doesn’t have any legal grounds, that’s clear. But without sounding insensitive, is psychological distress really considered an emergency situation? And if only mothers have legal say in abortions, child support can get a lot trickier. It takes two to tango

22. What if the foetus was Damien from the Omen?