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Can you clarify your rationale about why France banned paternity tests?

• leftyted 7y ago
  France banned paternity tests for the sake of filation, i.e. to protect the rights of children and to promote stable families. I differ with the previous poster in that I don't think that many men are unknowingly raising children that are not theirs. I've seen estimates that vary between .6% and 5%. I do think that a man ought to have the right to know if he's the biological father and I think it's understandable if he wants to leave if he isn't. Yes, familial bonds are important but what kind of family do you have if the lies run that deep?
  • bscphil 7y ago
    > I do think that a man ought to have the right to know if he's the biological father and I think it's understandable if he wants to leave if he isn't. Yes, but I've always assume reasonable people want to know this because it would prove infidelity by their spouse, not because they specifically care that their child shares their genes.
    • toasterlovin 7y ago
      Many of us have no interest whatsoever in raising other people’s children. Infidelity is a separate, though sometimes related, issue.
      • bscphil 7y ago
        A child that you know doesn't possess your genes but you still accept, is your child. Adoption doesn't count less. If you knew the child wasn't "yours" before the test, why would the test make a difference? If you didn't know the child wasn't yours before the test, surely the most significant part of the result for you is that there is some reason that you didn't know before. That is, that you had been lied to, and were in the relationship and parenting the child under false pretenses. I don't think that most people distinguish between a child from their own genes with an adopted child, unless there's some falsehood in play. At least I hope not.
        • toasterlovin 7y ago
          You’re putting the cart before the horse. The reason people care about the falsehood is because it results in a child which isn’t the father’s. The reason I decided to settle down with my wife was to have children. My children. I didn’t get married to her so I could raise someone else’s children. I am a biological being, whose existence is the result of 3 billion years of reproduction. I exist to perpetuate the genes which built me.
• erikpukinskis 7y ago
  They believe what makes you a father is that you accepted that social role on the day of birth, not the bloodline. You have an opportunity to ask for a blood test before you make that legal compact but not after.
  • deogeo 7y ago
    Since a ban was necessary, clearly many men don't share that belief.