Reasonable Paternity Fraud Story

Mitchell Smith writes in pointing out this story focusing on paternity laws at ABCNews.com.

"The paternity debate is heating up in the courts, too. Two men recently attempted and failed to get the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their cases after lower courts ruled they must continue paying support for children who turned out not to be theirs. One, Carnell Smith of Decatur, Ga., is trying to recoup more than $40,000 from his ex-girlfriend after learning three years ago that her 13-year-old daughter is not his."

The article goes on to make a few good points, including this one.

"[Commonlaw Fatherhood] is an ancient practice going back thousands of years for the government or king or chieftain to make a rule about who is the child's parent. And it really was a way of organizing society.

Using that argument, men could justify many socially unacceptable practices by relying on centuries-old law, say fathers' rights advocates. "Well, fine, if you want to bring back common law, then I own children and even a woman as chattel. If I catch the woman in an adulterous relationship, I can kill her. Do you want to bring that back?" Jaks said.

NOTICE: This story was migrated from the old software that used to run Mensactivism.org. Unfortunately, user comments did not get included in the migration. However, you may view a copy of the original story, with comments, at the following link:

http://news.mensactivism.org/articles/02/10/05/2135237.shtml