NationStates Jolt Archive


Just Whose Kids Are These Anyway, Ask Fathers?

Ice Hockey Players
20-04-2006, 05:50
Thanks to astronomical infidelity rates, many married men are raising children who are not theirs while the birth fathers get off scot-free. Thousands of cuckolded fathers are calling into question a century-old law declaring any child born of a married women to be a product of her marriage.

The Debate

1. "We demand accountability!" shouts a group of angry fathers with kids who look nothing like them. "Why should we be held responsible for children we didn't create? I say it's high time we crack down on this sort of thing and demand paternity tests for all newborn children! Any kid who isn't mine is none of my concern, and whoever created the kids should be held responsible, not us! Why should I pay child support in this case? I'll support these kids to my own liking!"
[effect]lots of kids are raised by newly divorced mothers who hope to find their children's real fathers

2. "This can't happen at all!" demand groups of mothers with their lawyers. "So what if I had a few indiscretions? They were all his fault anyway, and my kids are not going to be raised without fathers! My husband makes over a hundred thousand @@CURRENCY@@s a year, and none of my children's real fathers come close to that...err, can you edit that out? Anyway, no paternity tests are needed; they just waste the government's money. Just keep the law the way it is and start increasing child support payments for those cheap men who won't pay up for their kids, even if they're not...well, theirs..."
[effect]fathers can only pray their children are theirs biologically

3. "Surely there's a middle ground here," chimes in @@RANDOMNAME@@, your third cousin. "OK, so men should raise their own kids, right? And so married men are more stable, right? So if a man wants out of a marriage and the kids aren't his...say, he can prove who the real fathers are and make them half liable, right? Or at least a token contribution, since a lot of these guys are working class."
[effect]newly divorced men look for financial relief by looking for their children's "real" fathers

4. "This is all sinful talk, I say!" shouts @@RANDOMNAME@@ from the balcony of the capital city's largest church. "All children born out of wedlock are spawns of the greatest evil there is! All fornicators must be jailed, and all their children must be taken from them! Someone will raise them...the church; I don't know...maybe the church should set them straight and lead them toward the Holy Truth!"
[effect]churches are now the nation's most common parental units

This issue is only valid for people who allow infidelity in the "Is @@NAME@@ Too Promiscuous?" issue.
Emperor Matthuis
20-04-2006, 17:12
Very good issue again, I can find nothing wrong with it.
Tweedlesburg
20-04-2006, 21:41
I think the effects could be streamlined a bit.
Ice Hockey Players
21-04-2006, 01:23
They probably could, but I was tired and wasn't quite sure how to balance brevity and inclusiveness of all information. I will think about this issue and hopefully submit this and some others.