contraception and responsibility

In comments to my post on abortion last week, several people pointed out how the burden for contraception, and any decision around abortion, falls unfairly on women. The pill, abortion, other forms of contraception, all put the onus on the woman. Even in the case of condoms, it can often require the woman to ask for the man to wear one.

Given that it is the woman who has to carry the child is there really any technological advance that could realistically remove the burden of responsibility from women?

There is much talk of a male pill being developed one day, but in casual encounters could the woman afford to take the risk of trusting her sexual partner to be honestly on it? (Totally ignoring the fact that only condoms are protection against STIs.) Of course men have the same problem, the woman they sleep with may not be honest either, but then the consequences for them are not as big.

In many ways the pill has enabled women to pretend that they have the same sexual freedoms men have always had, but at the end of the day when contraception fails, for whatever reason, it is the woman who is pregnant.

That said, I strongly disagree with (usually) religious zealots who effectively want to take away any gains women have made in the Sex For Pleasure Not Procreation Department. Most of the time people (straight or queer) have sex for fun, not to create a child. It's ridiculous to create double standards, by restricting access to contraception and abortion, which mean men can have fun but women can only have kids.

I guess the only way to even the responsibility playing field is to raise sons who feel a strong moral responsibility for any accidental pregnancies they might cause, and thus act accordingly to prevent them, or front up when they aren't prevented. Many men do already take this approach, but not enough.