Letters to the Editor
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Paternity Tests
The real opposition to do-it-yourself paternity tests are women's advocates. For instance in Germany, there was an attempt to not only to ban do it yourself tests, but any tests without the consent of the mother. These discussions have been going on in Australia and the U.K. as well. Why? Because, there are cases of "paternity misattribution." The arguments for limiting the tests argue that they increase the potential for the dissolution of families, and domestic violence. Of course the biggest reason people argue against these tests is for economic reasons.
Men do have a legitimate right to know the paternity of children they are raising. These tests really became popular after the Clinton Administration got passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 which required women to name a father in order to receive well fair benefits. The system for the legal estabilishment of paternity, for instance, in California is obviously deficient. Personal service of paternity establishment proceedings is not required, so often men never know that they have been legally declared the father of a child (from a mother they may have never had sex with, or even know) until their wages are garnished. The time to appeal in default cases is short (I think 60 days), and once paternity is legally established (often through default proceedings) paternity disestablishment must be done within two years.
There are obvious injustices that have been perpetrated (and some horror stories). The biggest injustice is that these proceedings ensnare uneducated, unsophisticated, working class men who are intimidated by the legal system. Depending on who's statistics you use, arguments are made that there is a percentage of men who are unwittingly raising another man's child (from 3% to 25% of the time).
The arguments for the system are that we should put children first and that parenthood is not determined by DNA.