Abortion

Ok it has been a week since class but I have had the thought of abortion lingering in my head the past few days. I grew up with very conservative parents and we are also conservative Catholics. All my life I have been told to be pro-life and that having an abortion would equal eternal damnation! Seriously people this is something that my parents and I agree to disagree on now that I am involved with sociology and feminist ideology.

Anyways, I identify as a pro-choice person because I do think that legalizing abortion is tied into womens rights and the slow destruction of patriarchal domination. There is something bothering me though...if we are trying to take the blame off of women as far as getting pregnant why do we not consult the father when abortion comes into the picture? I can't help but relate the fact that fathers leave their children (and the mothers) to the fact that they are told they have no responsibility to the unborn baby because it is not inside of their body. Am I making sense? Should the rights of fathers only commence when the child is born? If so, how does that link to the unborn child having rights when murder occurs as the child is still in the mother's womb? These are some really hard questions. Any thoughts?

I know there are extreme cases when rape, domestic violence, or incest occurs and it might be dangerous for the woman to inform the father of the pregnancy, but for the times when that is not the case....should the father have rights too?