Paternity Law Reform

This page was last modified on Wednesday, 30 September 2009

Illegitimate means illogical (wrongly inferred or deduced from a questionable source) and it also means erratic (applying different reasoning or thought) based on personal preconceived notions called prejudice. The word illegitimate was and still is wrongly applied to children who are born of parents who are not married to each other and although innocent these children were treated badly.

In some countries, two unmarried people may be considered married if they live together as husband and wife for a certain period and a court may presume them married when no contrary evidence exists. The supporting evidence for common law marriage is the birth of a child during that period. The necessary and sufficient evidence is that the child’s DNA includes the purported mother and father’s DNA.

An orphan is a child whose parents have died without prior arrangements for the child’s welfare, has no living relatives, and has not attained the age of 18 years. So the terms, Godparent and Godfather and Godmother often refers to relatives or close friends of a parent. Sometimes they called honorary ‘aunts’ or ‘uncles’.

Some people consider certain friends as part of their family because they feel special affection for them. Though these friends are not true family members, such friends are called fictive kin, and family members might call them "aunts" or "uncles." Relatives or close friends of a parent may become godparents to that parent's children. Godparents, as sponsors to a Christian baptism, often play more vital roles in the lives of families. Though the title of a Godparent is largely ceremonial, the responsibilities and duties are real. This is true when both parents have died and there are no living relatives are willing to assume the role of a parent. This is when a Godparent may assume those roles for the good of the child or the children.

Then lawmakers declared that children who were born of parents married to each other are legitimate.  However, the law presumed that the husband was the biological father of those children.  This development set aside the ancient doctrines of physical incapacity and impossible contact.

Years ago, unmarried women who did not have children could not apply for welfare.  However, they could apply for welfare if they had a child.  All she had to do is become pregnant or have a child and lo

By 1902, researchers had identified the four human blood groups but only by 1940 did they identify the rhesus factors. In another paper, I explained that a couple's child could have the blood type of neither parent. This is also true for the child's rhesus factor. The original purpose of blood typing was to ensure that a person received compatible blood. ABO blood typing could exclude maternity or paternity but could not identify the parents of a child. DNA testing has changed that impediment to the truth.

Courts have often ignored the results of ABO blood typing and the ancient doctrines of impossible contact and physical incapacity. DNA testing has revealed that paternity and rape fraud are far more abundant than previously believed.

Contraception - Both partners are responsible for contraception when they do not want pregnancy to occur. The smallest drop of fertile male semen can be sufficient to impregnate a fertile woman. Researchers design contraceptive methods to prevent the fertilization of an ovum so to reduce the prospect of pregnancy. Ovulation prediction combined with a condom, diaphragm, and a spermicide provides a high degree of protection against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. The best non surgical contraceptive method fails once in a thousand. That 'once' can occur the first time.

Male sterilization is more than three times as effective than female sterilization. However, all contraceptive methods sometimes fail and abstinence works well.

DNA testing has revealed that 15 percent of the birth certificates name the wrong male as the biological father of a child. It has also shown 30% of the males tested for paternity are not the biological fathers of a child who others falsely said to be his. Such testing has proven that false accusations of paternity by women are common.

Radical women's groups, judges, and prosecutors assert that allowing the presentation of absolute proof of non paternity is unfair to women and children. They argue that judicial decisions based on a woman's lie, or mistake, or by default must withstand absolute proof of non paternity. Based on the dubious doctrine of "The Finality of a Verdict" these protesters claim that the rights of the mother and child exceed the rights of a falsely accused male.

Suggested Guidelines for Paternity Reform

1. The offspring of any parent or gamete donor has the right to know its genetic heritage and the problems that may arise from it. Current technology can detect many hereditary traits and diseases. This is why prospective parents and gamete donors must undergo genetic screening before any attempt at natural or artificial conception. Protecting all newborns is in the natural interests of the public and the newborn child. Therefore, the newborn children must undergo DNA testing at the earliest interval after birth and must occur without danger to the child.

2. A child born because of rape is innocent and must not be subjected to the trauma of that knowledge.  No rapist, male or female, has any right regarding that child but must provide support.

3. Arranged marriages are those between two families where one person where one offspring must marry must marry another without consent. This is an anathema, subject to criminal and civil remedies.

4. A girl and a boy who are both less than 18 years old cannot consent to intercourse unless they are married to each other. I do not approve of these marriages for they are unstable and the public policy should ban these arrangements though their parents consent.

5. A boy less 18 years old cannot consent to sexual intercourse with a woman who is at least 18 years old unless the two are married to each other. A child who is born because this unlawful sexual intercourse is not entitled to child support payments from its father nor the father's family. Since the mother acted immorally, her act deems her an unfit mother. Nothing here precludes the right of the father and the father's family to arrange for child support and custody of the child.

6. A girl less 18 years old cannot consent to sexual intercourse with a man who is at least 18 years old unless the two are married to each other. A child who is born because of unlawful sexual intercourse is entitled to child support payments from its father or the father's family. Since the father acted immorally, his act deems him an unfit father. Nothing here precludes the right of the mother and the mother's family to arrange for child support and custody of the child.

7. DNA testing is mandatory in matters relating to the adoption of children. This is done to decide any genetic traits for that may require attention such as a trait for cystic fibrosis or hemophilia. DNA testing for parentage may help in finding stolen or missing children.

8. Baby switching is not rare and DNA testing can prevent or recover the child.

9. No person will force a putative parent to sign a paper affirming parentage until DNA testing confirms parentage. Activities leading to false test results by any government, commercial, or a private entity is a civil tort and a criminal act.

10. On one will not require any mother of a child, whose paternity remains in question, to publish a list of putative fathers in a private or public publication. For this act says of her character.

11. DNA paternity and maternity testing should be mandatory in all divorce and family law cases involving children, child custody, and child support. If DNA testing reveals the non paternity of the alleged father, he is entitled to full recovery of payments. The biological father must pay child support for his children.

12. Since the state's acts have attributed paternity to innocent men and boys, then the state's acts are torts against these persons and are not subject to immunity laws.

13. A male has the right to dispute paternity without regard to judicial ruling when DNA testing proves that he is not the father of a child.  The prosecutor must charge those persons who bring false claims of paternity with the crime of paternity fraud.

14. Any person who persuades or coerces another to bring false changes of paternity or sexual assault is guilty of paternity fraud or sexual assault or both.

15. Any person who brings false charges of paternity or sexual assault is guilty of paternity fraud or sexual assault or both.

16. An oath of truthfulness given under the penalty of perjury that is contrary to the facts is a lie. Therefore, their oath is a lie and is subject to civil and criminal penalties.

Edward Steven Nunes