Is requiring a paternity test immediately after the birth of each child really a good idea? This issue has been in the news lately, so let’s have a look.

There seem to be many stories of someone who would have benefited from testing at birth . For example, there’s the case of a husband who had a cheating spouse and he didn’t know about the affair until after the child was born and birth certificate signed.  These people believe testing at birth would be a way to avoid paternity fraud or the “wrong” people being allowed to spend time with a child.

There are fewer stories of those who knew they were not the father and signed the birth certificate anyway. They wanted to be fathers to these children and may not have been given the opportunity had a DNA test been required.

There are conspiracy theorists who say the government would use the information collected from these DNA tests for their own benefit, although no one can say exactly how they would do use this information. These same people bring up the question, “Who is going to pay for all this testing?”

Certainly we cannot expect every family to pay for a paternity test – or can we?  Can we ask taxpayers to pony up these fees?  Do we just add it to a checklist of “requirements” for the birth of a child and therefore bill it to insurance agencies?  Where do the funds come from?

Many people (mostly women) are personally offended at the idea of birth paternity tests.  They are frustrated by the tacit implication behind such a test that the mother is lying about paternity from the get-go.  Some women take this stance:”If you have nothing to fear, why get upset?”

It’s a debate that rages on, but no conclusions or decisions yet.