“It’s a long shot, but genetically the baby is half his and as the father he should have a say in whether the child lives.”
Under what law in western civilization?
"Under what law in western civilization?"
This is in Alabama, which about 15 years ago made a law called the Parent-Child Relationship Protection Act. The purpose, to keep custodial parents (almost always the mother) from moving (with the kid) more than 60 miles away from the non-custodial parent (the father). If they do, they lose custody and the kid goes to the parent not moving away from the other parent. So moms are still free to move away, but they're not free to make choices that almost completely severs the relationship with the father.
So an argument could be made that the father's lawsuit is a natural extension of the spirit of that Act. I mean, abortion servers the relationship with the father more than moving the kid 100 miles away.