I've not followed the stories closely enough to get a good feel for what coercion means in this context.

Coercion, can mean threats of harm or some sort of unreasonable pressure on a person to comply. The bits I've heard about were offers of short term financial gain and it being made clear that the men involved were not choosing to take on an active role of father.

I'm not personally a liker of abortion, at the same time I've come to the conclusion that choice is the lesser of evils when weighed against the alternatives and what flows from trying to remove that choice. It does seem though that many who favour female choice strenuously oppose male choice.

Not quite the same set of choices, the male should not have any right to demand a termination not to demand that a pregnancy is carried to term. However he should have the same rights to choose his own future role at the same points a woman is free to choose her future role as far as viable given the biological necessities.

If she chooses to continue with a pregnancy knowing that the male involved in the conception has opted out then she should not be able to bring the power of the state to bear to coerce him to pay the bills for her choice.

If choice ends at the time of the sex act then it should end for both genders.

R0bert

the blood of the butchered child cries out for justice while the fornicators argue about money.

“coerced their girlfriends into undergoing abortions.”

How do you ‘coerce’ someone into having an abortion? You cannot make them go to the clinic unless you physically force them to and as soon as you manhandle them through the door the staff would call the police because of your violence.

“abort their child”

Who says it is a child? Can you prove with utter uncertainty that at the time of the abortion it is a child?

“still receiving grief counselling.”

Why do they need grief counselling? Millions of women have abortions and feel no grief or need for counselling. What is wrong with these particular women? Maybe grief counselling helps convince the counsellors that abortion is the death of ‘someone’.

“a public figure with an imbalance of power should be able privately to bully a woman into having an abortion that she doesn't want.”

There is no imbalance of power. Both parties in the couple have the same power when it comes to the matter of choice. Fame or money are totally irrelevant. The woman has all the power because she is the one who makes the ultimate choice. If the man wants to keep the child and she wants to abort it what power does he have?

“Mitchell Pearce whom they fined $125,000 for his lewd act with a dog last year.”

Is the author suggesting that a lewd act with a dog shows the same lack of respect to sex with a woman? If you do not let the woman keep her baby it’s the same as treating her like a dog? Where is the analogy here?

“financial or emotional pressure to abort”

Every woman has to make her choice a financial one.

“absolves men of responsibility for an unplanned pregnancy.”

So men are responsible for having sex and so is the woman. Women have a choice whether to become pregnant or not. They are the only ones who have that choice. How can you have responsibility when you have no choice?

My mother gave me this advice when I was still a boy and mad keen on football and cricket, both of which I played.

If you what to sleep with a woman, ask yourself this question. Do I want this woman to be the mother of my kids and my wife? And do I love her and want to grow old disgracefully with her?

And something to think about before drunken debauchery, the one night stand, the exchange of body fluids replete with the very real possibility of STD's!

Lady Palmer and her five daughters far less risky biological relief!

As a Dad myself, I gave my own kids this advice and with all the aforementioned in mind, if it's not on, it's not on!

Better to carry a couple of condoms in the purse or wallet, when desire and reduced inhibition allows you to take leave of your senses!

And we are all capable of that! Why Charlie Chaplin became a doting daddy in his seventies! And there are reports of women in their sixties and over, becoming pregnant, and not by immaculate conception!

Simple advice for the boys and girls involved in these traumatic events? Wait until there's a ring on the finger, before putting one in the nose of your (keeper) favorite stud!

Even there, confront the very real possibility of one day, waking up beside a complete stranger you don't like very much!

Infatuation and falling in lust has a lot to answer for!
Alan B.

Rachael

Your hypocrisy is nauseating.

Oh, gimme a break! As a feminist myself, I can smell a faux-feminism argument a mile away.

Any man has the right to say: No, I don't want this child. While it may be devastating for the would-be mother, it's still his right. That does not constitute coercion.

The NRL has many issues regarding the treatment of women. This is not one of them.