Legal Question in Family Law in South Carolina

Abortion

Can a female who had an abortion sue the father of the child for a portion of the cost of abortion if he is not willing to help with the cost?


Asked on 1/29/99, 6:52 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Jes Beard Jes Beard, Attorney at Law

Re: Abortion

I'm licensed in Tennessee, and not in South Carolina, so you might want to talk with an attorney there, but I think you would have a couple of serious problems with such a lawsuit.

The FIRST problem would be proving paternity after the abortion. The child you have aborted is gone, and blood tests are going to be difficult.

The SECOND problem would be that you might encounter a far less than sympatheic jury, both because you are taking their time to try to collect half of the cost of an abortion, which is generally a fairly inexpensive procedure, and also because some of the jurors are likely to consider your abortion to have been the moral equivalent of murder.

Even if no one reacts negatively to the abortion itself, the father should be able to convincingly argue it is fundamentally unfair to force him to pay for aborting the child he is likely to claim he wanted.... despite what his true feelings might have been.

Jes Beard

Jes Beard, Attorney at Law

737 Market St., Suite 601


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Answered on 2/01/99, 5:05 pm


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