If I get a girl pregnant, will I be responsible for child support, though I'm too young to work?
Yes, regardless of your age, you are still responsible. If you cannot work, the court will set a presumed amount and set the obligation on your parents, attaching their wages. If for any reason their wages cannot be attached, then arrears will accumulate, plus up to 18% yearly penalties, until which time you get a job.

For a minimum $50 per month child support payment, the accumulated amount yearly, plus interest, would be $708. Once you get a job, aside from the fact the payment will be increased to match your earnings, 50% of your "gross income" would be attached to pay the arrears.

What would be my rights to the child?
Your rights are very limited. In no US State, as well as most countries, do males who have fathered a child with a female he is not married to have any "presumed rights" to the child. Only Germany has such a law, which their legislature was ordered to pass by the German Supreme Court in September of 2010.

Any rights must be granted by the courts, at a cost of upwards of $3,000 in attorney fees. This is regardless of whether you are listed on the birth certificate, or even have been living with the mother for some period of time. Further, in most states, being ordered to pay child support does not automatically grant you any rights to see the child.

A girl I had sex with got pregnant; however she has also slept with other boys. She has not named the father, can I still be held responsible for child support?
Yes in all states, if you are the father. However, though rare, there are circumstances, under which you could be ordered to pay, if you are the only male she can clearly identify as a potential father. In 20 states, once a child support order is put into place, it cannot be overturned, regardless of paternity.

Can I demand a paternity test to be done if I think I'm the father of a child?
Yes, this can be done by court order, and should be if there is any chance you may be the father. Depending on the state where she is living at the time she files, she can wait up to 23 years to name the father of her child, and file for up to 18 years of retroactive child support. At the maximum, for a minimum wage earner, this would come to at least $52,000. Added to that would also be interest penalties (3% to 18% per year), which at the minimum, could double the amount.

My girlfriend happens to be much older, and she is pregnant. If I'm underage, and she is an adult, do I have to pay child support since she committed a crime?
Sadly, there are no allowed defenses against being ordered to pay child support, even statutory rape. Though an adult female can be jailed for having sex with a minor, the child will go to her relatives, or into state foster care, either of whom can seek child support from you, and/or your parents. Due to your being underage, neither you or your parents have standing in the courts to file for custody.

I used protection, yet the girl I was having sex with still got pregnant.
It should be noted that studies show that 20% of sexually active girls, age 12-18, are trying to get pregnant. For one desiring to do so, there are always ways to circumvent any form of protection, the most common of which is to offer to place the condom on for the boy, whilst puncturing it with a fingernail so that it appears to have ripped. It should also be noted that according to the United Nations World Health Organization, the Spermicidal Cream in condoms have a limited shelf life for effectiveness - a woman can end up offering her partner an expired condom.

I only had oral sex with a girl, yet she is now claiming that she is pregnant by me. How can this be possible?
In 2005, Dr. Richard O. Phillips was ordered to pay child support after only having oral sex with a woman, who became pregnant. She had made use of a Self-Insemination Kit to impregnate herself from the collected semen. Note that as it is with women having sex with a minor, the cause of the pregnancy is not considered a defense against paying child support. Some teen girls are willing to go to extremes to have a child.

If my girlfriend gets pregnant, do I have any say about her getting an abortion?
No. Regardless of your personal, political, or religious views, the law of the land grant females of all ages the right for bodily ownership. This is something one must consider before making a choice of character, like having sex outside marriage.

My pregnant girlfriend says she plans to put my child up for adoption. Can she do this without my permission?
This is a controversial area that has been in the news in the last 12 months. In Ohio, for six years, a couple has fought against the father of their adopted child, who from right after the time of the birth, has tried to gain custody of his child that the mother placed up for adoption. He finally won custody in December, but the case is not being appealed to the US Supreme Court.

The laws on your right to stop an adoption vary from state to state. In Kansas, you must be paying for 50% of the financial cost of the pregnancy, starting within eight weeks of conception. This can be difficult is you did not know she was pregnant, or claimed you were not the father. In some states, you must register with the state any time you have sex with a female to whom you are not married, in order to challenge any possible adoption. Most states have Putative Father registries, whereas you must register within 24-hours or up to two months, following the birth.

However, they do not advertise this fact.

Many fathers have found, as a result of not registering, that they cannot stop the adoption, even after they have begun paying child support. Further, in states with Safe Haven Laws, the mother has up to one year to abandon the child, no questions asked, which can happen even after the father has been ordered to pay child support.

A Final Thought
At age 55, it has been many years since I was a teenager, but not a day goes by where I do not look back and wonder about the things I did, and the path those actions have set in my life. We all do things that lead to unexpected, and often disastrous results. With this material, I am not trying to tell you what to do with your lives; only that you be informed about the possible problems which sex can lead to.

You are not alone in learning the hard way the drawbacks of your actions. Adult males face the exact same problems: the lack of basic civil rights with who they have relations with, and/or cohabit with a female to whom they are not married. They are facing these problems because like you, they were not made aware about them while in middle and high school.

I only ask that you take to heart what you have been presented with here, and to share this with your social networks, as well as text this link to all your friends. Ask your schools why this info is not being given out. It is your life, and your future, that is being affected by this lack of knowledge.