What do you think of the paternity testing ban in France?

Question

No, that title is no joke. In France, it is illegal to buy a paternity test kit to find out if you are indeed the father. The official reasoning is that it will "disturb the peace within French families", and "fatherhood is determined by society, not by biology." You can only get a paternity test in special circumstances, and then through a court order and with the mother's consent under strict state supervision. If you do it secretly with a foreign lab and are caught, it's a year in prison and a 15,000 Euro fine.

In my opinion. It prevents guys from finding out the truth and holds families that should break up together. It also hurts children too. A man who suspects paternity will will not bond with his child (which can cause all sorts of behavioral and social problems later on), and since the majority of paternity tests carried out show the suspicious guy is the father, it could lead to a lot of biological kids getting rejected by their fathers.

Also, this "fatherhood is determined by society" thing is scarily totalitarian-sounding. It's basically telling you that the state will tell you what a father is.

The main argument of the opponents is that preserving the families should be first and foremost, and it's better for the children and everyone involved.

Take-home aternity test kits were also almost banned in the UK in the early 2000s, and there are some voices calling for it to be banned in the UK and the US.

So what do you guys think? The right way to go or not?

OpenClose · Accepted Answer

Paternity certainty is basically a must in monogamous societies. We all know who the mother is, the baby freaking came out of her. But who is the man? We know what woman is responsible for the child, but we to identify which man is responsible.

This was actually one of the main reasons for the patriarchal naming scheme. In Scandinavia, for instance, If Steffan (M) and Alla (F) have a son, Jon, we know Jon is Alla's son. But to establish him as Steffan's son, we name him "Jon Steffansson" or "Steffansdottir" for women. (don't quote me on the spelling.)

In more fundamentalist nations, paternity certainty is achieved by sexual oppression of women. If a woman sleeps with a man she isn't married to, she gets stoned. If a man sleeps around, no problem. Not surprisingly, these societies are much more violent, and women have much fewer rights.

To me, the French law you mention sounds pretty discriminatory against men, but misandry doesn't get as much attention or consideration as misogyny. They probably named it the "Family Protection Act", that way if anyone opposed it for discriminating against men, they could say "Why do you hate families?"

I hate to bring up a touchy subject, but this is what happened with VAWA, when people opposed it for defining abuse as primarily "women as victims and men as perpetrators." When people opposed such an exclusive definition, they were asked "why are you in favor of violence against women?", and were therefore labeled as misogynists. Even though many just wanted the law to be gender-neutral.

"Family comes before equality" also sounds similar to the Draft laws here in the US. They were acknowledged to be sexist, but to the supreme court, "defense of the nation came first". That statement labels women as less capable defenders of the nation, and labels men as expendable pawns. "Anyone who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither."

Paternity certainty is actually necessary to family. Such a question as "who is the father" is to big to just ignore. It would be an elephant in the room.

I think that paternity tests, and contraceptives for both men and women should be widespread and available. The better we can keep track of our sexuality, the more sexual freedom we have. And there is a direct correlation between high sexuality and low violence in societies.

Make love, not war, eh?

Janson · Accepted Answer

Just another reason why France is not a great place to migrate to

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

No way! Withholding ethical science is a sin. Ignorance is not bliss. I do agree that family is not necessarily biologically related, but what about certain circumstances?

I would hope that guys didn't paternity test every kid, or think before leaving the family (please share custody of the child instead of just leaving), but banning paternity tests is just dumb.

lilstrwberygal · Accepted Answer

Wow! That's by far the most awful thing I've ever heard! What if a woman slept around and there could be two potential fathers? It's not about the man and woman or the "family" it's about the children and they deserve to know who there father is. Heck, even if it really didn't matter who the father was, for medical history purposes the children should know.

heavenonearth · Accepted Answer

That's way too much state interference in peoples' personal lives. Yeah, I think it's a terrible idea.

Anonymous · Answer

I believe all acts should be legal, except those that damage someone else's body or property without that other person's consent. So, of course, buying a paternity test should be legal.

Another consequence of my philosophy is that no one has the natural right to someone else's money. In other words, if a parent doesn't want to contribute anything to the baby, he or she can't be forced to do so unless he or she has contractually (i.e. voluntarily) agreed to do it. Because of this and because fraud would also be illegal in my philosophy, a mother who lies about paternity in order to gain some benefit would be guilty of fraud and would have to compensate the man she had conned.

I agree with you: there is only one objective definition of fatherhood and that's the biological one. That quotation is basically saying that the state can turn a lie into a truth. If the state says 2 + 2 = 5, then 2 + 2 = 5. Very Orwellian indeed.

voit3 · Answer

France is currently in a phase of extremely stupid social governing, but I know the US also has stupid laws related to "protecting" family. Don't forget that when it comes to reproductive rights, women have the only say on the matter; they solely decide on either abortion or getting child support in the case of an unplanned pregnancy. I know many will see that as OK, but then you should also see the French ban on paternity testing as OK, since it's the same basic intent.

Anonymous · Answer

That's ridiculous. So they think it's okay for women to cheat and then force some poor schmuck into being the father? I have to say that European men have become so soft. They have bent themselves for everyone else. Once mighty empires reduced to that. Such a shame. There are others heading down the path too though.

TheGodEmperorLeto · Answer

Sounds like something some sluts pushed through in their government cause they wanted to not let the fathers know they were cheating sluts.

temptationfalls · Answer

I think is BS. I want to know if the kid is mine if I suspect anything.

peace-love-couture · Answer

That's retarded It'll disturb the peace...this is why no one likes the French

sketchy · Answer

It makes perfect sense to me. Paternity tests should only be available through highly trained professionals - like Jeremy Kyle.

Fiona83 · Answer

Do you have any link? I can't find anything on google about it.

jpinka · Answer

thats not right and they should not ban it. I don't think it would get banned here in the US.

RedSmartie · Answer

It's a terrible idea.  It will allow deadbeat dads to get away without paying child support.

vishna · Answer

That's silly... As long as the tests provide correct results then men should be able to buy it.

RedThread · Answer

It's obviously stupid.. It makes it so girls can trick guys into thinking that a kid is their kid.

gotc147 · Answer

Sounds like a new idea for Obama.

repetron · Answer

Yeah, that sounds like a garbage idea.

ManaX · Answer

Unfair. Didn't know that happened.

MissAM · Answer

Definitely NOT the right way to go...

Anonymous · Answer

i think its a terrible idea...

Anonymous · Answer

Obviously it's a stupid law.

Anonymous · Answer

its a terrible idea

Anonymous · Answer

It's great

Anonymous · Answer

It's a weird law

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