Should paternity testing be mandatory at birth?

[Anonymous]

Paternity fraud is shockingly common in the US. A study done by the American Association of Blood Banks, which accredits DNA testing labs, showed that 30 percent of DNA paternity tests done nationwide prove the man is not the biological father of the child.

Paternity fraud hurts three people... the man who is being lied to, the true biological father, and of course the child.

Men's rights organizations are fighting to make DNA paternity testing a legal requirement when every child is born. Test kits are readily available, inexpensive and highly accurate, so a law would be easy to implement.

Do you support it? Why or why not?

Yes, it should be mandatory - state why

No, it should not be mandatory - state why

[OlderAndWiser]

"30 percent of DNA paternity tests done nationwide prove the man is not the biological father of the child." Well. paternity tests are usually done when there is already a high index of suspicion that the alleged father is not the real biological father, so of course the percentage of such results should be rather high. And probably less than 5% (just a guess) of all births are subject to such suspicions. In the other 95% of births, I would also expect the percentage of such results to be astronomically lower.

[Soteris]

Mandatory DNA testing is a staggering invasion of personal privacy and you would assume that if it was not mandatory then those who had something to hide would be the biggest group refusing it meaning that you are either violating personal rights or the policy would fail because anyone wanting to avoid it easily could.

So yeah.. even at a glance that is a completely dead-end argument even before we start looking into how accurate these tests would be and all the other problems and that is me taking your facts (which I highly doubt) at face value. Basically, your idea is dead on arrival and is not a solution to the problem you present.

[Asker]

DNA paternity tests are extremely accurate. A test can show with 99.9% accuracy if a man isn’t a person’s biological father, so accuracy is clearly not a concern.

my.clevelandclinic.org/.../10119-dna-paternity-test

What is an even more staggering violation of rights is a man being led to believe he is the father of a child when he is not, when a father of a child is never told he has a son or daughter, and when a child never gets to meet and get to know his actual father. In my opinion those things clearly overshadow any privacy concerns.

[Soteris]

Again, taking your own facts at face value it is not really good enough. If we take the population of the USA and then calculate the number of times the test would be inaccurate at 0.1% then that would mean there are 330 000 people who would have an inaccurate result because of no fault of their own. Not acceptable in my opinion as it impacts innocent people.

And I stand by the fact that violating an innocent persons freedom is worse than having a father support a child that is not his own.

[Asker]

Your facts are wrong. There are 3.6 million children born in the US annually, and 0.1% of them is 36,000. Considering the study showing 30% of DNA paternity tests show someone else is the father, that affects as many as 2.2 million fathers annually (including both the man who was lied to and the father who was not told he has a son or daughter) and 1 million children who don't know their real father, that is obviously a far bigger impact on society that disproportionally affects males.

You don't have to take my facts at face value. The facts are readily available to anyone who cares to educate themselves.

All of those 2.2 million people's rights are being violated. A father should have the right to know whether the children he is supporting are his, and a child should have the right to know who his or her real father is. It is beyond me how anyone can believe a person's right to privacy trumps that. Your priorities seem really screwed up.

[Soteris]

My facts are not wrong. I just took the current population since if its mandatory then everyone should receive it. Also being unaware of who is the father is not violating their rights meaning its not equivalent of having your right of privacy violated. Furthermore intentionally subjecting people to a rights violation is a lot more serious than if such a thing were to naturally happen which means that even if they were equivalent the privacy violation would still be more serious.

But this is all moot. Violating peoples privacy is not acceptable and the false positives makes it intolerable.

[Asker]

You're a woman.

[Soteris]

Ouch, that is a harsh insult coming from you.

[Anonymous]

So out of all the people who question the paternity of children, 30% come back as a different biological father. That mean 70% come back as the biological father?
How many are we actually talking about here?
Its a shitty thing to do, and consequences should exist. But is it really something that should be required for everybody?
No. I don’t think so.

[Asker]

What is the harm in doing a simple DNA test at birth? I just don't understand the downside. The cost is virtually nothing, it is completely noninvasive (saliva test) and the accuracy is pretty much 100%. Unless someone has something to hide, why would they be against it? There is literally no downside unless you have something to hide and the upside is enormous. Help me understand this.

[Opinion Owner]

Because it’s not the governments business. It’s not an area of life that requires their interference. I’m not against people getting DNA tests. I’m not even opposed to one parent getting it done on the down low. I’m against the government getting involved in yet another thing in my life.

[Asker]

Are you vaccinated? Just curious.

[Opinion Owner]

Yes I am.

[PinkMichae]

At first I was on board with it but any man can request one and keep from being defrauded. If they choose not too that's the risk they take.

But I think women who do defraud a man should be sued.

[Anonymous]

Paternity testing should be mandatory in all child support cases to verify a man's responsibility or lack of in a child.

[Asker]

The fact is even when it is proven a man is not the biological father, the courts often don't let him off the hook for financially supporting the child. Why not make it mandatory at birth to avoid that altogether?

dnatesting.com/.../

[jshm2]

Fraudulent tests are probably the bigger scam, bucko.

[Asker]

False. There is literally zero evidence of that.

[boggboss]

No it shouldn't be mandatory should be able to be requested tho

[Twalli]

If the mother is seeking money from the "father" then a paternity test should be required before forcing him to pay anything. If he wants to pay, then it doesn't matter.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

No. That's for the woman and man to decide such personal matters, not the state.

[Asker]

The man has no choice when he is unknowingly being defrauded.

[Massageman]

It shouldn't be "mandated", but it should be made a low-cost option.

[OddBeMe]

I would say the majority doesn’t need it, as their births aren’t argued. When it does become questioned the paternity tests are there.

[Anonymous]

If the child is not the father's, he should not be obligated to pay child support for it if he decides to divorce.

[SnakeBoop]

It should be freely available if requested.

[Asker]

The problem is that most men who are being defrauded don't know it and have no reason to suspect it. Why would you not support making it a requirement when so many men and children are harmed by paternity fraud?

[SnakeBoop]

Its for every individual relationship to decide. simple as

[exitseven]

No, we have enough regulations as it is.

[CloudMassacre]

I think people should take it if they want to