“Last Thursday, The National Center for Men filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Michigan on behalf of Matt Dubay. The NCM has nicknamed the suit ‘Roe v. Wade for Men’ because it seeks to allow men a legal right to decline the responsibilities of fatherhood to the same degree that women can currently decline motherhood through abortion: that is, absolutely. … The suit will almost certainly fail in court; NCM probably knows this. The real purpose is to stir discussion of a neglected issue: the rights of men in reproduction. That is a laudable goal but, in pursuing it, the lawsuit stumbles by presenting those rights in the worst possible light. Never since Custer uttered the words ‘Don’t worry we can always give them shiny beads’ has a strategy been so ill considered: explicitly linking men’s rights to one of the worst pieces of legislation on the books, Roe v. Wade. The pity is that the cause being so poorly served is a just one. Some argue: ‘anything’ that stirs discussion is positive but, by that standard, violence in the streets would be a welcomed turn. This case sabotages a growing public sympathy for men’s and father’s rights.” (03/14/06)