” It won’t stop anyone from doing anything because people fool themselves into thinking that they’re safe and that these things only happen to other people, never to them.”
Some people think that way, but not everyone. Plenty of people obviously consider the consequences of their actions first, otherwise there would be no point to many of the laws we have on the books.
“When it does happen, under that kind of policy, quite frankly, there’s no reason for a woman to tell a man that she’s having his child if he’s not going to help support the child, unless she wants to marry him or she believes he should be in the child’s life.”
Perhaps, but I doubt many women would choose voluntarily to shoulder the financial burdens alone. If one thing motivates people universally, it is getting hit in the pocketbook.
“Women already earn their own income, and female students outnumber the males in most colleges.”
Yes, but one income households are pretty much obsolete.
“As it is, many fathers now are trying to be involved in their children’s lives, but the mothers shut them out and have the children calling another man “Daddy.””
This practice is enabled by child support. Mothers have the luxury of shutting the father out only because they know they can still get the government to force him to pay even if they don’t want him involved in their lives at all.
I'd say the laws are on the books precisely because, in the heat of the moment, people don't think of the consequences of their actions. Apparently not even the thought of catching a disease stops them. They always believe that they're taking the proper precautions. Young people especially don't think of consequences.
Already today, there are women who don't tell the men about their children. If men aren't required by law to pay child support, and if there's no indication that they're going to help support the child, then many women are not going to tell them that they have children, especially if the men are entitled to visitation with their children.
Mothers have the luxury of shutting the father out only because they know they can still get the government to force him to pay even if they don’t want him involved in their lives at all.
We're talking about unmarried couples, right? The only reason why an unmarried woman would tell her partner that she's pregnant is that she (1) is looking for help with the child and/or (2) is hoping for the father to stay in the baby's life. Otherwise, there's no incentive to tell him.
I've come across both divorced fathers and divorced mothers being shut out by the other parent but forced to pay child support. But we're talking about unmarried people here, right?