Is Parenting A Choice when A Child is Conceived

Should agreements that were based on a particular set of arrangements become null and void, and reassessed and affirmed if something major happens that changes the situation? Do all rules still apply if an unexpected outcome occurs?

A man and a woman agree to have an open relationship that allows each party the freedom to leave whenever they see fit. After having sexual relations and a baby is now conceived and on the way, the man decides to leave, before the baby is born.

Does he get to neglect his responsibility of his child and disregard the woman, or does he have the right, according to their initial agreement, to leave them both? Ruggiero’s textbook suggest that we must “Act so that you treat humanity whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only.” (Kant). Being that the man only treated the woman as a means or tool, probably to satisfy his sexual desires, when the ends became complicated by the pregnancy, he saw fit to stick to the rules of the couple’s initial agreement and chose to walk away at his own freedom.

Had he treated the situation with respect towards the ends and the means holding the same value, he would have chosen to work out a different set of rules for the baby’s sake. Kant’s basis of moral action is duty. His duty is to give the child a father rather he had one around or not because giving duty gives actions moral value if he, according to Kant “Act as if the maxim of his action were to become by his will a universal Law of Nature [to be obeyed by everyone] (Ruggiero, 151).” His act of neglecting a child would most likely not be accepted universally.  

If this act wouldn’t be accepted universally my means of moral reasoning, why is the norm for society today?

To neglect or to not neglect your responsibility? That is the Question. Does it more harm than good?

Look within and deep down ask yourselves, WHY INVOLVE CHILDREN IN A SELFISH DECISION? WHY NOT BE MORE RESPONSIBLE AS TO NOT CAUSE A CHILD UNDESERVING EMOTIONAL PAIN?

BE PROUD TO BE A PARENT AND BE BLESSED PEOPLE!!