The first ruling of its kind in the nation, last week a New Jersey judge ruled that mother’s can decide that they do not want the child’s father in the delivery room.
According to nj.com the judge is cited as saying, “Any interest a father has before the child’s birth is subordinate to the mother’s interests,” Mohammed wrote. “Even when there is no doubt that a father has shown deep and proper concern and interest in the growth and development of the fetus, the mother is the one who must carry it to term.”
The decision is the result of a court battle that played out last year in New Jersey’s Passaic county when a once engaged couple broke things off and the mother did not want the child’s father in the delivery room during childbirth. The court hearing actually took place the same day that the mother, Rebecca DeLuccia, went into labor. The judge ruled in her favor that day, November 19th, but the written decision was just released last week.
BMWK Family, should expectant mothers be able to keep fathers out of the delivery room?
Yes, the legal right goes to the patient…yet this is wrong. Another way to legislate fatherhood out the door. I’m sure there are some cases where this may need to apply (i.e. domestic abuse); the fact remains that this would be done out of spite over anything. Not a fan of this at all.
My sentiments exactly.
It is the woman’s right until the baby is born, be cause it is her body. Then his rights come in. We do not want to be in the business of giving anyone rights over someone else’s body. History has shed a very negative light on this. If he has a history of abuse, or they don’t get along, why would she want him in there?
Fascinating how fatherhood is continually disregarded. And then people in this country want to know why families are not intact. No, it is not about her body. There’s more going on here than the body and life and rights of one person. This is a life that came about because of TWO people, not one. Unless the man is an axe murderer or physically abusive, he deserves to see the birth of his child … and his child deserves the father to be there when they come into this world. This judge is dead wrong.
This IS absolutely about patient’s rights. It had NOTHING to do with fatherhood and the rights of the father. Childbirth is a dangerous and stressful undertaking. The life of both the mother AND child are always at risk. Why introduce someone into the room during a delicate procedure that would raise the level of stress on the mother and child? That is absolutely stupid. If the dad claims to love the baby…..why risk it’s life? And…..if you have broken up with the father (which is what happened in this case)……why should someone you don’t share a relationship with be allowed into your hospital room during a delicate medical procedure, or ANY procedure? What’s next? Allowing exes in the room during your tonsillectomy or kidney transplant? The mother in this case had also consented to put the father on the list of visitors, so he could see the baby after it was born!! He wasn’t being excluded…..he just didn’t get to see the kid come out — which is absolutely fair. The judge made the absolute CORRECT decision in this case.
I feel that it should be a case by case decision and as a few have said, if domestic abuse is a factor, the father should absolutely not be there. Not knowing all facets of the case, I can only speak on what I have read and I can say that from my own experience, it is very difficult to be with someone in the delivery room you have broken up with or in my case, separated from my husband who walked out four months before our child was born. Although he was being responsible in being there since we were still legally married, I recall a deep sense of sadness and depression knowing he didn’t love me anymore. I am truly on the fence about this because the person in the delivery room tends to the person having the baby (ice chips, rubbing their back, wiping sweat from brow, holding hand,etc.) All difficult things if you don’t love the person anymore, and tou are the child’s father.
Let me a different perspective. Imagine a man having a treatment done to his penis and testicles where his sperm are blocked and the only way to get it is to do exams and treatment on his genitals and his genitals become bloody and messy while he has a bowel movement on the table with his legs in the air. The nurses and doctors are in and out, in and out, checking and poking his privates.
Now the man, being the patient, decides that he does not want his wife to see the bloody mess. He is the patient people of America and he has that right. The wife wants to see them remove the sperm and unite it with her egg and wait for conception to take place, and sues for the right to see his penis and testicles in the process.
Now people, answer this question. Does the husband as a patient have the right to want privacy and ask his wife to not come into the room? Heck yeas! Does she have the right to witness his discomfort and trivilize his discomfort? HEck no!! Anyone with an ounce of intelligence or common sense, should see how a person might want to keep something like this away from the spouse’s gaze. So, a woman might not want her husband to see her vagina be twisted in and out to deliver a baby. We all have patient rights.