THE mother of Jude Law’s love child, Samantha Burke, appears in a gossip magazine to claim the actor hasn’t seen his new daughter Sophia or even asked for a photo for her.

May I suggest to Samantha, who appears to exist in a parallel universe, that this may be because she was possibly just a fling, with whom he had no intention of forming a permanent relationship?

In a situation like this I normally feel feminist sympathy with the mum and the kid. And I do have enormous sadness for baby Sophia because I can’t see her being raised in a home with two besotted parents any time soon.

But Samantha I’d like to slap.

She drivels: “Hopefully he’ll be a big part of her life and she’ll be proud to have him as her father. All she needs to know is he’s there, if she ever needs him.”

Well, fine. But did she consult Jude about whether he wanted to “be there” for another kid before deciding to go ahead with the pregnancy?

Because it sounds like she did not. And if she didn’t, then it’s her fault that baby Sophia will be a one-parent kid, because it’s her fault, as the person responsible ultimately for bringing Sophia into the world, for not thrashing this out beforehand.

I may be wrong but I have a feeling that she is not like those women who have reason to believe they are in a relationship that’s definitely going somewhere, only to become pregnant and then be deserted by a rat.

We are not living in the Victorian era where men frequently forced themselves on women and then walked away.

We are also not living in a time when contraception and abortion are illegal or hard to come by and that discussing these things is taboo.

We are living in an age when men and women can embark on a casual relationship, a one-night-stand even, and no one will bat an eyelid.

I absolutely respect the decisions of the Samanthas of this world to go ahead with their pregnancies and have the baby.

In the end it can only be a woman’s choice to have a child. It must be.

But I won’t blame Jude if he takes a long time to come to terms with his surprise daughter even though he’ll pay up the maintenance for her.

Sadly for babies whose mums decide to have them just because they want one, men have choices too.