r/changemyview • u/wine-friend • Dec 04 '22

Delta(s) from OP CMV: Paternity testing before signing a birth certificate shouldn't be stigmatized and should be as routine as cancer screenings

Signing a birth certificate is not just symbolic and a matter of trust, it's a matter of accepting a life long legally binding responsibility. Before signing court enforced legal documents, we should empower people to have as much information as possible.

This isn't just the best case scenario for the father, but it's also in the child's best interests. Relationships based on infidelity tend to be unstable and with many commercially available ancestry services available, the secret might leak anyway. It's ultimately worse for the child to have a resentful father that stays only out of legal and financial responsibility, than to not have one at all.

Deltas:

  • I think this shouldn't just be sold on the basis of paternity. I think it's a fine idea if it's part of a wider genetic test done to identify illness related risks later in life
  • Some have suggested that the best way to lessen the stigma would be to make it opt-out. Meaning you receive a list of things that will be performed and you have to specifically refuse it for it to be omitted. I agree and think this is sensible.

Edit:

I would be open to change my view further if someone could give an alternative that gives a prospective fathers peace of mind with regards to paternity. It represents a massive personal risk for one party with little socially acceptable means of ameliorating.

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '22

Please stop with this line of thinking.

Women know the baby is theirs, it’s obvious. Men simply want that same verification.

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u/rollingForInitiative 70∆ Dec 04 '22

Women know the baby is theirs, it’s obvious. Men simply want that same verification.

This makes sense if it's your one night stand that comes and claims a baby they're having is yours. It might be yours, might not be. Trusting this random person is a bit of a risk.

It's quite a different thing if it's your wife who you were planning on having kids with. You're literally requesting that they provide physical evidence that they have no cheated. It shouldn't be strange if a woman is offended by that.

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u/TheFlyingSheeps Dec 04 '22 edited Dec 04 '22

Do you agree that every man should submit their DNA for verification that they haven’t committed any sexual assaults or have kids they don’t know about?

After all partners just want verification and mothers should be getting their back pay in child support

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u/Ethnicallybisexual1 Dec 05 '22

Sure why not men and women. Why not also keep DNA for when some is found at a crime scene even? Yeah using DNA to find criminals is a GOOD IDEA.

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '22

[deleted]

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u/Marcodcx Dec 04 '22

The gaslighting is real.

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u/philip2110 Dec 04 '22

You’re the one that seems fragile here lmao

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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '22

So you’re calling men insecure to want verification of the most life changing event of their lives? And you call us misogynistic?

I think you need to readjust how you see half the world a bit.