Mandatory DNA testing at birth protects children, prevents misattributed paternity, and restores fairness to families.
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We highlight the following comment only because it again frames men solely in negative terms:
You don’t have to put your body at risk for 9 months and possibly have medical malpractice done during your birth. You have no idea the LABOR that goes into having a child, and why abortion should be the choice of the person who does the LABOR of having a child in the first place. All you do is squirt and if she does not want that squirt to grow in her body, that is her choice. Go give your squirts to somebody who actually wants to carry them through.
This harsh rhetoric ignores a deeper crisis: what happens to good men denied their children and when a woman names a man the father of a child he did not conceive. It, along with current reform efforts in Ohio, serve as the impetus for the following article:
The Hidden Inequity: Women Choose, Men Absorb the Consequences
Pregnancy clearly places the physical burden on the woman, and she holds legal rights to make medical decisions. But once a child is born, the state imposes long‑term or lifelong financial obligations on the named father—even when he had no say in the decision that created those obligations.
Misattributed paternity harms men, children, and biological fathers by assigning lifelong obligations without biological truth.
The state can impose garnishment, license suspensions, passport denial, and even jail on men who never fathered the child.
Children suffer when doctors rely on inaccurate medical histories, delaying treatment and risking misdiagnosis.
Most states still allow paternity to be assigned through a signature or declaration without DNA verification.
Mandatory DNA testing at birth offers the simplest, fairest, and most child‑protective solution.
Opposition comes from agencies and groups that benefit from the current system’s financial incentives, not from concern for children.
Legislative efforts across the country—including work by Marc Angelucci—show growing recognition of the problem.
Truth should never be optional. Mandatory testing restores fairness, accuracy, and integrity to family law.
Men routinely support children they later learn they did not father. Many stay out of love, loyalty, and responsibility. They attend school events, provide emotional and financial support, and guide and protect children without recognition. These men act as quiet heroes. But no man should face deception or lose the right to make an informed choice.
The system deepens the imbalance: a woman can legally name a man as the father even when he did not biologically father the child. Most states do not require DNA testing at birth. A mother’s declaration, a pressured signature, or a missed hearing can turn an uninvolved man into the “legal father.”
Once that happens, the state can garnish wages, seize tax refunds, suspend licenses, deny passports, and even jail the man—penalties that continue even when DNA proves he is not the biological father.
Children also suffer. Incorrect paternity deprives them of accurate medical history, compatible donors, and essential genetic information during emergencies. A system that hides biological truth endangers children.
Ohio House Bill 435: A Small Step Toward Truth
Ohio’s HB 435 would require hospitals to offer free paternity testing to unmarried parents. It does not mandate testing, but it acknowledges the problem men have raised for decades: accuracy matters.
Opposition comes from groups that benefit from the current system:
- Women’s advocacy groups claiming testing “pressures” mothers
- Child‑welfare agencies that rely on fast paternity assignments
- Legal‑aid groups that fear fewer voluntary acknowledgments
- Legislators who fear political backlash
- Bureaucracies that depend on federal incentive payments
The resistance has nothing to do with child welfare. It protects a profitable status quo.
Mandatory DNA Testing: The Only Real Fix
Mandatory testing would identify the correct father from day one, prevent decades of wrongful obligations, protect children with accurate medical histories, reduce fraud and litigation, stabilize men’s employment, and strengthen families by grounding fatherhood in truth.
Only two groups lose:
- Bureaucracies that rely on federal incentive payments
- Mothers who misattribute paternity
Everyone else—men, children, biological fathers, and society—gains fairness and accuracy.
Why Misattribution Happens
Intentional misattribution often arises from financial need, desire to avoid conflict with a current partner, leverage in breakups or custody disputes, fear of stigma, or retaliation.
Unintentional misattribution arises from overlapping relationships, misunderstood fertility windows, stress or trauma, pressure from family or partners, or genuine but mistaken belief.
Both forms occur because the system allows paternity to be assigned without proof.
Voluntary Acknowledgments of Paternity (VAPs): A Trap for Men
Hospitals push VAPs as routine paperwork, but they create binding legal obligations:
- Staff pressure fathers to sign immediately after birth
- They rarely explain that the form carries the force of a court order
- DNA testing is not required
- Strict deadlines make rescission nearly impossible
- Child can support begin immediately
- Wrongly named men face garnishment, license suspension, and jail
- Children lose access to accurate medical history
States push VAPs because federal funding rewards rapid paternity establishment—not accuracy.
Real‑World Harm: Documented Cases
- Georgia: Carnell Smith paid for a child DNA proved he did not father; the state still forced payment, he led a national reform movement.
- Michigan: A Detroit man owed tens of thousands despite DNA exclusion because he missed a hearing years earlier.
- Texas: A man went to jail for nonpayment even after DNA proved he was not the father.
- Medical cases: Children suffered misdiagnoses and lacked compatible donors because the wrong man appeared on the birth record.
- Biological fathers excluded: Courts often refuse to correct paternity because the child “bonded” with the wrong father.
- California: A woman with a name similar to the purported father became the legal father because she had moved to a new address, and the court sent the legal notice to her old one.
These cases show a systemic failure, not rare accidents.
Legislative Momentum — and the Work of Marc Angelucci, Esq.
States across the country have confronted misattributed paternity:
- Georgia passed early paternity‑fraud laws
- Texas allows termination of obligations when DNA excludes the man
- Florida created a statutory disestablishment process
- Maryland and Ohio considered DNA‑at‑birth bills
- California faced major challenges, and NCFM’s Marc Angelucci, Esq. fought to reform deadlines that blocked men from correcting false paternity
Legislatures increasingly recognize the problem. The nation needs a serious conversation about mandatory DNA testing at birth.
Truth Should Never Be Optional
Misattributed paternity represents a systemic failure built into family law and reinforced by outdated procedures and financial incentives. Men, children, and biological fathers all suffer when the system treats truth as optional.
If we want fairness, protect children, and restore integrity to family law, we must adopt mandatory DNA testing at birth. Anything less leaves families vulnerable to preventable harm.
Moreover, women who maliciously commit paternity fraud should be held legally accountable.
Call to Action
NCFM has always fought for fairness, accountability, and equal treatment under the law. If this issue matters to you, contact your state legislators. Share this article. Support advocates who push for mandatory DNA testing at birth. Demand a system that respects truth and protects families.
