Bill seeks to fill in paternity blanks

If a state lawmaker gets his way, unmarried women who give birth in Georgia will face a question from hospital staff: Who's the daddy?

Rep. Ben Bridges (R-Cleveland) on Tuesday introduced the Baby's Right to Know Act, which would require hospitals to ask the question. Bridges said his goal is to give children access to their full medical history by identifying the biological father and getting his name on the birth certificate. It would not legally require the new mother to name the man.

Rep. Ben Bridges wants unwed mothers to be asked to name their baby's father.

"This law does not punish the mother. It simply states that the hospital is required to ask who the father is," Bridges said of House Bill 4. "My main reason is a child gets up later in years and they go for a physical and the doctor asks for their family history and it might be crucial to know that family history."

Bridges said his research found that some hospitals don't ask an unmarried mother to identify the father.

In Georgia, nearly 53,000 babies were born to unmarried women in 2003, 37 percent of all babies born that year, according to state records. It's unknown how many of those babies don't have a father listed on their birth certificate.

Metro Atlanta hospitals say they follow state law, which requires them to provide unmarried women with literature about legally establishing the paternity of their children. But they vary on whether they actually ask women to name the father.

Officials at Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital, where 70 percent of the 4,107 births were to unwed mothers in 2003, say they ask. Officials at Northside Hospital, which delivers the most babies in Georgia, say they don't.

Under current law, when an unmarried woman gives birth, the father's name cannot go on a birth certificate unless she and the man give their written consent. Bridges' bill would allow the hospital to put a man's name on the certificate and file it with a notation that the paternity is "unconfirmed." The county Health Department would then be called upon to try to find the man (with the help of law enforcement if necessary) and give him the opportunity to accept paternity or challenge it through DNA testing. The man also would receive information about his rights and responsibilities regarding the child.

If passed, the bill could result in more fathers financially supporting their children, said Randy Kessler, an Atlanta family law attorney.

In general, it's better to address questions of who the biological father is, who should pay child support and who should be a part of the child's life as early as possible, said Kessler.

"This bill forces people to deal with issues that will eventually arise," he said.