How to Perform Before Birth Paternity Testing

Paternity testing to determine your baby's father comes with more risks than testing on a born child, as the medical procedures used are more invasive and carry a higher risk of miscarriage. DNA paternity testing for purposes of establishing child support is typically done after a paternity suit is filed when your child is born--paternity law is very clear on this issue. However, legal paternity testing can be performed at the agreement of the baby's mother and putative (assumed) father. Currently there are only two methods of DNA tests that can be performed while a child is still in utero.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Access to an AABB-Accredited Laboratory
• Around $4000 to pay for private paternity testing

1. Consider amniocentesis to determine the identify of your baby's father. This procedure is performed in the second trimester of pregnancy (between the 10th and 14th weeks). A doctor will insert a long, thin needle through your abdomen and into your uterus to collect a sample of amniotic fluid. Amniocentesis is often used when pregnancy occurs later in a woman's life to determine the health of the fetus, but can also be used to establish paternity. Risks include miscarriage and harm to the baby. You may experience cramping, slight bleeding and leaking of amniotic fluid after amniocentesis. Amniocentesis is typically performed after the 14th or 15th week of pregnancy to detect fetal abnormalities in women over the age of 35 who have been pregnant before and is the more thorough testing option, especially when other tests have indicated potential abnormalities.

2. Ask your doctor if chorionic villus sampling (CVS) is a better way to do paternity testing. A needle is inserted through through the cervix to obtain a sample of chorionic villi, the tissue attached to the uterus. Because chorionic villi and the fetus share the same genetic material, DNA pregnancy testing can be performed on the tissue to establish the identity of a child's father. CVS is also generally used to ascertain fetus abnormalities, although it yields less thorough results than amniocentesis. However, it may be appropriate when women want to get paternity testing results in the first trimester, as it can be performed as early as the ninth or 10th week of pregnancy.

3. Get your doctor's consent before undergoing either of these procedures as they pose more risk than noninvasive, postnatal paternity testing.
   
   Also, if you're testing for paternity for the purpose of obtaining child support, consult an attorney or the attorney general's office in your state if you have filed a paternity suit against the putative father. Your court order will specify the methods of paternity testing that are permissible for establishing your child's paternity, and prenatal testing may not be a method that the court approves.

Tips & Warnings

• While a court will accept pregnancy paternity testing results to legally identify your baby's father, typically, you must ensure that everyone is in concurrence. A putative father can still contest a paternity claim and insist on submitting his own test results.