Can you sue to not pay child support or take legal responsibility for
a child for the reason that the mother of the child broke their verbal
promise prior to conception that if an accident occurred during your
relationship that they would have an abortion?

I am only looking for a simple answer as it applies to the laws of
British Columbia, Canada.

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Clarification of Question by yoinky-ga on 17 Aug 2004 13:42 PDT

Thank you for your comments, here are my replies.

The mother and I are still on very good terms, I believe I have a good
chance of her being willing to sign a written statement to the effect
that acknowledges our previous verbal agreement.

I know child support is for the child, but when one person
single-handedly decides to bring that child into the world I believe
they are thereby taking full responsibility for their decision.

Could a court possibly agree? Or is it impossible for a father to sign
away his "rights & responsibilities"?

As Sam Goldwyn said, 'Verbal agreements aren't worth the paper that
they're written on'.

Or words to that effect.

Forget it.

You said one thing and she says the other. Who to believe?

Don't even think about suing.

Child support is for the child, not the mother. Regardless of what the
mother did or did not agree to, the child did not agree.  You are
responsible for supporting this baby as he / she is the innocent one
who had no choice of whether or not to be born.

One can almost always bring suit.  The question is not really CAN you,
but SHOULD you, and if you decide you should, then will you prevail. 
I suspect your chances would be slim, at best.

I believe she could sign the agreement, but it would in no way be
enforceable. A mother can't sign away her child's rights. Just like
you can't sign away your neighbor's rights.