I have watched all 9 seasons of the Walking Dead. Just by coincidence, the 10th season premieres today. In Season 9, Episode 9, “Adaptation”, the autistically intelligent Eugene Porter learns that Rosita Espinosa, whom he has a crush on, had sex with Siddiq, the doctor for the Alexandria safe-zone, and, as a result, she got pregnant. In Season 9, Episode 12, “Guardians”, Eugene approaches Gabriel Stokes, a priest and head of the council of Alexandria, who is also in a relationship with Rosita, to urge him to carry on with his relationship with her despite Gabriel learning that Rosita is pregnant with another man’s baby.
After Gabriel tells Eugene he’s not the father of Rosita’s child and he doesn’t think he should be raising it, Eugene advises, “That ain’t for you to say or Siddiq. It’s her decision. It’s pretty much all hers.”
In the dystopian post-apocalyptic conflict-laden society that is presented in Walking Dead, where murderous hostile “zombies”, not looking the best for wear, are routinely “murdered” practically every episode, to say nothing of the murderous warfare conducted between the various bands of humans, perhaps this would be good advice but in a modern day society this sort of arrangement where the mother gets to decide which father, or none at all, raises her child, regardless of the wishes of the biological father, will inevitably create conflict.
Unfortunately, Eugene’s advice is the law of the land in two major industralized countries.
In France, it is illegal for a man to get a paternity test without a court order and without the explicit consent of the mother so that he can find out if he is the biological father of his child or not.
https://www.avoiceformen.com/mens-rights/france-upholds-the-ban-on-paternity-tests/
The rationale behind it is to keep the peace. In other words, there is a belief that ignorance is bliss. There is also the absurd belief that fatherhood is determined by society.
Lucian Vâlsan strikes that rationale down: “Really? By that logic, I could bring a few kids from the street into my home and when I divorce my wife I can hold her accountable for child support, right? Because motherhood is determined by society and not by biology. And if you say “it doesn’t work like that” then you are nothing less than a bigot.”
Since 1994, if you break the law in France by ordering a paternity test online or by phone, not only could the shipment be confiscated by customs but you risk a year in prison or a fine of €15,000 (100,000 francs from 1994 to 2002). This is provided for by Article 226-28 of the French penal code.
Lucian Vâlsan points out that €15,000 is what the average Frenchman earns in 4 to 7 months. Also, if you are separated or divorced from the mother, you will be forced to pay child support for a child even if you doubt the child is yours. There could be a situation, for example, where you are white, the mother of the child she alleges is yours is also white, but the child is half black or half asian. Still, you’ll be forced to pay child support unless a French court orders a paternity test which are estimated to be only one tenth of the total number that are undertaken outside of France every year. In other words, a lot of medical tourism takes place outside of France every year because of this.
A similar law came into force in Germany in 2010. A person is liable to a fine of up to €5,000 if caught doing an unauthorized paternity test.
https://www.dw.com/en/new-german-law-restricts-genetic-testing/a-4201588
I don’t think the German and French laws are ideal state of affairs. In fact, I think they’re pretty disastrous. Here, I suggest that a mandatory paternity DNA test at birth is implemented instead. A father of a newborn should have the knowledge that he’s the biological father of his child which can now be established with hard scientific accuracy with a paternity DNA test. Ignorance is not bliss, rather it leads to needless suffering. Knowledge is power, it leads to less conflict and more productivity.