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What Are The Politics of Legitimacy

What Are The Politics of Legitimacy

Having a child out of wedlock used to be rare. Today, it is very common. Politicians frequently blame the demise of the traditional family unit for a number of social problems in the United States. While many people in society do not seem to think about the legitimacy in the way they once did, politicians can still touch a nerve by mentioning it.
Politicians blame the erosion of the family unit in part on the fact that many children are born out of wedlock. Politicians have used the financial angle as a way to attack women who have children out of wedlock for years now. As a group, mothers having children out of wedlock were less likely to vote than other people and they were generally underrepresented. In general, the unwed mothers who did vote tended to have more progressive views.
Most of the time, when politicians attack mothers who have had children out of wedlock, they target unwed teenage mothers, not older women who can financially support a child on their own. Many women choose to have a relationship with their child’s father without involving marriage. Many politicians are still against this type of relationship. Many politicians believe that a family unit should consist of two married parents and their children.
While it is mostly conservative political agendas that address the erosion of the nuclear family unit, even liberal politicians have expressed concern about the subject. Many people believe that addressing this concern has been pointless, as numbers of children born out of wedlock continues to grow rapidly. While legitimacy is important to some people, others consider it an old fashioned concern.

Easy Guide to Understanding Legitimacy Implications Of Donated Sperm

Easy Guide to Understanding Legitimacy Implications Of Donated Sperm

Some women choose to get pregnant with the aid of donated sperm. There are several reasons why a woman may choose to use sperm donation to have a child instead of using a male partner. 
Women who use sperm donors do not often worry about the legitimacy of their child. Having the child, not the child’s legal status, is the important thing. There are two other reasons why donated sperm may be used to achieve pregnancy, although the issue of illegitimacy does not factor in one.
If a couple is trying to have a baby and the man has the fertility problems, they may choose to use sperm donation as a way of impregnating the wife. That child will not be illegitimate because the woman’s husband is able to sign the birth certificate. The other reason for using donated sperm is to help lesbian couples with having children. Technically, this counts as illegitimacy. 
Society has different views on women who use sperm donors. These women will almost never be using any type of Government aid program, since they are usually financially secure. However, excepting couples where male infertility is an issue, all these children will likely grow up without a father in the home.
Even in a progressive society, it is still generally believed that children who grow up in a stable, two-parent home are better off than children in a single parent home. However, many people also feel that no one should be deprived the ability to start a family, whether or not they are married. 
Some people consider single mothers by choice to be selfish, since they are purposely bringing a child into a home with no father. Since financial matters, such as welfare programs or State-funded financial assistance, are not a factor, society’s main issue with single mothers by choice is the obvious lack of a father in the home.
The child’s legitimacy is less important than the fact that there will be no father in the child’s life at all, nor will they ever know their real father. Usually, women who decide to conceive using a sperm donation are well prepared. 
In the case of lesbian couples, the views vary depending on an individual’s personal beliefs on the subject. Once again, it is usually not the illegitimacy factor that is important to individual’s in this case. An individual’s feelings about this situation relates to their beliefs on homosexuality.
The women who choose to make use of sperm donors to have children are still sometimes discriminated against by society, although the reasons are generally different from the discrimination faced by other unwed mothers. 

All You Need To Know About Legitimacy Citizenship

All You Need To Know About Legitimacy Citizenship

In today’s society, a child born to unmarried parents are not subject to the same poor treatment or lack of legal rights that they once faced. However, some nationality laws tend to discriminate against children born to unmarried parents, mainly in regards to Jus Sanguinis. Jus Sanguinis is a policy that dictates that citizenship of an individual is determined by parental citizenship status. 
Many European countries prefer this method of determining citizenship. This method recognizes maternal blood as the basis for determining citizenship. The child’s paternity dictates their nationality through if the child is legitimate. If the child is born to unmarried parents, that child is supposed to be a citizen of the same country as the mother. Any child that is born to unmarried parents will have an extremely difficult time gaining citizenship to their father’s country if they are able to at all.
Many countries followed the rule of Jus Soli, or “right of soil” until the late 18th Century. Canada and the United States continue to follow this rule, which grants citizenship based on place of birth instead of parental citizenship. The law of soil allows for one to have no other connections to the country besides birthplace to achieve citizenship.
A parent’s birthplace is unimportant. Acknowledgment of paternity is not important. It does not matter if both or neither of the parents happen to be citizens of the United States. The United States does not recognize right of blood as a way of determining citizenship. 
Most European countries began using blood right to determine citizenship in the late 18th Century and have been using it since. Many countries combine the rules of right of blood and right of soil. 
Laws regarding the treatment of children born to unmarried parents has changed drastically within the last century. However, nationality laws that base citizenship on right of blood still treat children born to unmarried parents differently than legitimate children. The rule of blood holds the paternity of the child in the highest regard.

Understanding The Issues To Modern Legitimacy

Understanding The Issues To Modern Legitimacy

Modern day legitimacy issues are much
different from the issues that surrounded illegitimate children in inheritance rights
long ago.

 
Legal Considerations:


Most of the laws governing important policies
are equal when it comes to illegitimate or legitimate children. For centuries,
the two operated on completely different sets of laws. Illegitimate children
were even denied many of the basic civil rights that legitimate children had.

 

The number of children born to unmarried
parents became high enough that a demand for change was created. When it comes
to legal considerations, the basis for laws involving illegitimate children
stem from the 14th Amendmen
to the United States Constitution. In Levy v. Louisiana, the court determined that the children of a deceased woman
had a right to file a wrongful death suit in her name regardless of the fact
that they were illegitimate.
 
Reasons for Less Social Concern:


As the number of children born out of wedlock increases, the social concern
that follows unmarried parents diminishes. In the United States, about one in
four children born are born out of wedlock. That high number as well as several
other factors have helped remove the 
stigma.


Politics of Legitimacy:




Politics is one of the few places place that
legitimacy still matters. Traditional family values dictate that each home
should be made up of a married couple and their children. Gay couples and
single parent homes have no place in this equation. Politicians, especially
conservative ones tend to follow this old fashioned way of life. Many problems
in society are blamed on the erosion of the traditional family unit. These
problems include everything from gang violence to poor grades in school.

 

Many young unwed mothers are on Government assistance and politicians will often use this
as a jumping off point when attacking people who have children out of wedlock.
It is harder to use this argument against older, financially stable women who
choose to have children alone.
 
Implications of Donated Sperm:




Women who choose to use sperm donations to
have children are called single mothers by choice. Statistically, these women
are usually in their mid-30s to 40s and are successful in their careers. They
may reach the age where they want children and fear that age will soon prevent
them from being able to conceive. Even though they have circumstances that are
completely different from that of an unwed teenage mother, they are both
technically having children out of wedlock.

 

Citizenship:



Legally, legitimacy is still important when
it comes to determining a child’s citizenship. In the Untied States, a child’s
status is determined by 
Jus Soli, Latin for “place of birth.” If a child is
born in the United States, the child is automatically a citizen of the United
States. It doesn’t matter whether or not the mother and father are citizens of
the United States.

 

Many other countries prefer the method of Jus Sanguinis when
it comes to determining citizenship. Jus Sanguinis follows a rule of
determining a child’s citizenship status based on that of their parents. If a
child is legitimate, then they are legally citizens of their father’s country
of citizenship. If the child is illegitimate, then he or she is a citizen of
their mother’s country.