I have not voted yet (and might just vote "flip a coin") because I am torn.

My own personal feelings are that unless the father is REALLY and TRULY a part of this baby's life, including all the hard stuff, Mom should be using her own last name. After all, she has already done 9 months of the HARD stuff. And she will more than likely be doing 90% of the hard stuff for quite a while (unless they go move in together somewhere). So YES.......the father is being "punished", in a way.

But I can see how tradition would expect it to be the father's last name.

SO I guess the answer to this question is what would Ahsley feel most comfortable calling her baby? Will she regret NOT using her name? Will she regret having to refer to the baby with a last name of a man who may run away from her? Does she HOPE they will marry and stay together?

If this were my situation and it were my baby, I would choose MY last name. I feel VERY strongly about this. What does Ashley feel VERY STRONGLY about? That is all that matters.