It's probably a stupid question but I decided to ask it here because I know I'll get a fair shake.

the thought exercise of the conductor on the trolley car got me thinking: Suppose you're the conductor of a train with no brakes but instead of one track having with 5 people and another with one person, you have one track with one person and the other track has nobody.

If you don't turn the wheel and the train hits the worker the obvious answer is that it's your fault. I've always looked at pregnancy the same way. If a woman is pregnant and chooses to stay pregnant it's her fault for having the baby, not the fathers. And to me, blaming the father is the same thing as letting the train hit the worker and blaming the guy that was supposed to fix the brakes. I.E. The person who's inaction ultimately caused something to happen is the one that bears the responsibility.