Paternity Fraud: Should Mandatory Testing Be Standard at Birth?

ctleatherdad · 2026-03-26T19:26:21+00:00

There are a few stories regarding this on YouTube where a man was ordered to pay for a non-biological child. The courts seem to do it in the "best interest of the child" by ordering whoever is able to pay. Usually the man prevails in reversing the child support but not before being dragged through a lengthy and costly court process. It seems wildly unfair and stacked against men. Some states are slowly trying to reform the law and limit the courts ability to do this but it's slow. If someone had any doubt whatsoever the kid was theirs, absolutely get tested asap. There would be plenty of pushback to making it standard at birth but it would probably be a good practice overall.

63daddy · 2026-03-26T23:16:03+00:00

Paternity fraud is fraud. Just as we collect basic information to reduce other kinds of fraud, we should do so with paternity fraud.

Paternity testing isn’t just about paternity fraud. Having correct lineage also helps in diagnosing and treating hereditary diseases. I’ve read some very sad stories about children suffering needlessly because false assumptions of who’s the parent hundred proper diagnosis.

Centaur_Warchief123 · 2026-03-26T20:13:44+00:00

It should but they won’t. There is too much money in getting men to pay for children thats not theirs, states would never give men reproductive rights for this exact reason.

InnerSwineHound · 2026-03-26T22:44:55+00:00

No, but it should be a right

Broad-Choice-5961 · 2026-03-27T04:55:30+00:00

In many states if you're married and ur wife has a child you're responsible and it's considered your child. End of story. Even if you have a paternity test shortly after birth and it shows ur not the father ur still stuck. I think it would be great and should be standard testing at birth.

Wylanderuk · 2026-03-27T00:28:07+00:00

Yes it should, but once the results are in no profile should be stored.

Future-Stretch-401 · 2026-03-27T02:37:14+00:00

The closest the US has come to such a policy was in Tennessee where mandatory testing was proposed for unmarried men named on a birth certificate. The bill was dropped, partly because it was likely unconstitutional; making it mandatory is probably a violation of the due process clause. The main reason is more disturbing, the state Department of Human Services makes a minimum of $50 million per year from the federal govt by maintaining a quota for the number of unmarried fathers on birth certificates. This means that there are billions of dollars nationally opposing such laws.

The other problem I see is that politicians aren’t going to want to get involved with proposals that will make lots of voters angry. Various surveys have shown that even among men support for routine testing is only 50/50, and among men with children it’s lower. Among women there’s only 32% support (higher than I thought it would be).

It’s probably not the answer people want, but even in countries where testing is illegal without the consent of both parents it’s fairly easy and cheap to do a test. Sure, you can’t always use the test in court but it doesnt matter if you’re a match, you don’t have to get the mother mad at you, and if the worst happens at least you know you will win if you get a court to order a test. Married men can still get screwed by the presumption of fatherhood in some countries, and often need to act quickly (in the US you typically have 2 years after birth) . I’m not recommending anyone do anything illegal, especially if you are the kind of person that can’t keep their mouth shut, but it could be a solution for some.

ArchdevilTeemo · 2026-03-27T04:49:50+00:00

Yes.

oofieoofty · 2026-03-27T09:32:43+00:00

I feel like this is one of those issues that doesn’t really effect middle class people. Don’t have sex with drug addicts or alcoholics and your life won’t be filled with drama. Don’t flash money around and women won’t try to con you out of it.

My husband and I were long distance dating when I got pregnant with our first. I offered to do a dna test since I thought it might seem sus that I got pregnant during a 2 week visit. He declined. Now that I’m pregnant again it would seem laughable to consider getting one - we eat dinner together every night

SidewaysGiraffe · 2026-03-27T14:37:19+00:00

Of course not- that means creating a genetic database that the government either has or will quickly be given access to. And if THAT happens, mere paternity fraud will be the least of your concerns.

That job you had? Gone, because the company can't afford to insure you, given your genetic history. Your own insurance? Unaffordable, because your rates have tripled? Feeling smug, because you live in a country with government-funded healthcare, so insurance costs don't matter to you? Don't smile yet; you're looking at mandatory sterilization, because your genetic line is too expensive to provide care for. Think that can't happen? It already did, in the heyday of the eugenics movement, and with widespread popular support.

And it gets even better: we're living at the dawn of the age of CRISPR; how are you going to feel when the narrowing of genetic lines has made your entire population easy marks for genetically-targeted pathogens? You don't even NEED government efforts at that point; Johnny Terroristpants could do it in his garage.

Mandatory paternity testing isn't cutting off your nose to spite your face; it's nuking your nose to spite your face. Supporting it requires either deliberate ignorance of the underlying realities or a genuine belief that paternity fraud is worse than worldwide genocide.

McGauth925 · 2026-04-07T18:54:07+00:00

Women, of course, are against this. Too many politicians will support women over men, so it's "politically infeasible," unless this becomes a major issue that men support, and publicize the hell out of, and never give up.

el_gringo_exotico · 2026-03-26T20:11:09+00:00

Nope! I don't want the government to have my DNA for any reason. If I want to do that I am going to have it done by a lab whose privacy standards I trust

beigewoodtable · 2026-03-26T21:31:19+00:00

Think about this logistically.

3.6 million babies are born in the US every year. 3.6 million DNA tests. We have no system set up to handle that type of operation. (Edit: by system I’m including workers to process the amount of tests).

And who is conducting this test? Hospitals? Because I’m sure they would charge out the ass for it. I just saw a hospital bill where they charged $70 for a pregnancy test. You can get a pregnancy test for $1.25 at dollar tree.

DNA tests cost $100-$800. Can’t even imagine the up charge on that on a hospital bill.

Where would this information stored? I don’t want the government getting access to my baby’s DNA the moment they’re born. Who knows what they’d do with it eventually.

How often is this issue happening? Do you have any stats or numbers? How many jurisdictions allow this? Dont many have different stipulations?

How about get a paternity test if you want a paternity test and keep your big government out of our medical information, households, and pockets.

Edited to include govt DNA database concern.

Title	Paternity Fraud: Should Mandatory Testing Be Standard at Birth?
Author	AltAccountVarianSkye
Upvotes	115
Comments	48
Date	March 26, 2026 6:48 PM UTC (4 months ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1s4g850/paternity_fraud_should_mandatory_testing_be/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/paternity-fraud-should-mandatory-testing-be.1576450 https://theredarchive.com/post/1576450

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