Why are we regarding contraception as the responsibility of one person OR the other? It's a joint responsibility. If contraception is not used, they BOTH decided not to use it. More particularly, if a condom is not used, they BOTH decided not to use it, not just the man, but the woman too. Broomstick, you yourself evidenced this fact
Back when I was fucking fertile men for my own amusement that actually WAS the standard I applied - I used birth control for me and if he didn't wear a condom he didn't get sex from me. Funny - it wasn't that big of an issue.
Unless we're talking rape, and we're not, then both decided to have sex without a condom. To think any less is to say that women are incompetent to make their own decisions.
Jub's point is simply this. The woman get's more opportunities of choice than the man, and the extra choice is "the big one". This is plain fact. Any other opportunities being brought up apply to both sides equally. She could have decided not to have sex. She could have found someone of a different mindset to have sex with. She could have decided a condom would have been used.
Unfortunately (and I'm sorry to have to have to repeat it, Jub, I know you're sick of it) the biology is unequal, abortion is a medical procedure to the woman, and none of us (you included, I know) want to have a society where one person can override the sanctity of someone else's body (except for special cases where a person is deemed incompetent, obviously. A six year old can't decide he doesn't want a bone-marrow transplant. You're having one, kid.)
I myself have spent some time on occasions thinking about the inherent unfairness of the situation, and I'm afraid I've been unable to think of a reasonable solution. It's probably best to just accept that there is an inequality of choice, we don't know how to fix it, and by having (consensual) sex you implicitly accept that inequality.
Points of Note -
* I feel that the man has carried out his part of the contraception-work adequately if he has received a verbal reassurance that the woman is on a competent birth control.
* If the woman lied about such (an unusual circumstance, although I can see it happening with a groupie having sex with her idol, and so wanting to have his baby), she is guilty of rape. He would have to prove it beyond reasonable doubt, however.
** Interesting point of debate - would the woman being found guilty of rape give the man the right to an abortion?
*
Birth control can fail. Condoms particularly aren't that reliable, even used properly. Can we please stop automatically blaming the man for any conception? There
was someone else involved, they could even both have been on birth control and both failed.
** This even means the guy in the OP
may have used a condom, and done everything (up to the point where he poisoned the woman) right.
He's still an arsehole.
I think it's best to think of the child who needs to be looked after as a completely separate issue from who is or isn't to blame for the existence of said child. The child needs to be brought up. This takes work, and money. The child "belongs" to the mother and father. If one is taking the lion's share of the work-load, it seems fair that the other takes the lion's share of the money-load. This statement is gender neutral.
I am quite open-minded to the idea that primary carers are given a stipend from the government. This would be on the theory that children are the country's future, child-minding is a job, and so the country should compensate those doing the job. To me, this would be enough to live on decently but modestly (scaled to the number of children), and not income-tested. For tax purposes, it would be treated just the same as a job. There would be problems to work out, but that's why governments employ experts. Yes, there is the risk of "welfare mums" (or dads), having "kid after kid to live the high life without working" (because us parents all know that looking after kids is shit-easy and not stressful or hard work at all) but that's a spectre I feel far more common on radio then real life.
In Australia, the government pays the carer, and gets money off the other parent in recompense. This means the carer is not dependant upon the other parent. It also means that how much the other parent pays is scaled to their income. For instance, if you're on the dole or AusStudy (the dole for students), then you'll probably be paying $13 a fortnight, if I remember properly. This would mean that a kid's life isn't ruined because the two of them made a mistake or were just plain unlucky.
To backtrack (to page 1!), I don't approve of it [edit - the illegal abortion of the child in the OP] being called murder. Murder is the death of a human being. Either a foetus is or isn't a human being, make your mind up. If it is, then abortion is murder, and binge-drinking is conduct endangering a child and possibly manslaughter. If it isn't, then this isn't murder. You can't determine whether something is or isn't a human being based upon whether the mother does or doesn't want a child.
The argument that "Well, it would have been in 8 months" fails because (a) the same argument can be used anti-abortion, and (b) you can't prove beyond reasonable doubt the child would be carried successfully to term.
"Murder" is however just a label. I have no problem with it being labelled "Battery causing miscarriage", with a significant punishment applied.