A political group is arguing that men should be given the right to opt out of parenthood, absolving them of all responsibility for bringing up the child.
The Swedish Liberal Party’s youth wing (LUF Väst) believes that by signing up for a ‘legal abortion’ within 18 weeks of pregnancy, a man shouldn’t have to pay maintenance for his child – but neither would he have any right to meet them.
The 18 week cut-off date is set to coincide with the last week in which a woman can terminate a pregnancy in Sweden, reports The Local.
The group believes the move would promote equality between the sexes in the early stages of a pregnancy – giving men a chance to opt out.
They argue that women would also benefit if they knew from the start whether a man was willing to commit to parenthood.
When asked how a mother would explain the situation to their child, LUF Väst chairman Marcus Nilsen said:
This situation already exists, with single women who choose to inseminate or simply don’t know who the father is.
The plan has been met with a mixed response – many have ridiculed it and the group has allegedly received a number of threats with one Facebook commenter saying all their members ‘should be put against a wall and shot’.
According to The Local, much of the criticism accused the young Liberals of misogyny – something Nilsen was quick to reject as he revealed the motion was put forward by a group of girls.
However, it seems the group are unlikely to take the plan any further as the reactions have been ‘overwhelmingly conservative’.
This idea is the just the latest in a series of controversial proposals from the Young Liberals’ Stockholm branch.
They previously said they wanted to ‘legalise sibling incest for over-15s’ and to permit ‘consensual necrophilia’ in cases where the deceased had written post-life sex requests into a will.
To be fair the legal abortion thing is pretty realistic compared to those…
