Costa Rica Lays Down Law for Deadbeat Dads

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Maria Jimenez doesn't seem like she would have the energy to be part of a legal revolution.

She's a single mom, living in a poor town about two hours outside this sleepy capital. She has four kids, no job and no husband.

But Jimenez has seized on a controversial new law here that gives her the upper hand in winning child support from the man who she believes is the father of her children.

"My children have the right to know who their father is," said Jimenez, 32.

The law, which came into effect March 2001, is believed to be the first of its kind in the world. It allows a mother to name the father of the child in a simple administrative process that begins in the hospital's birthing room. The man is asked to submit to a DNA test; if he does not agree, he is assumed to be the father, with the duty to pay child support.

The test is legally binding, though the man can appeal the results in court. The entire process is free.

This procedure contrasts dramatically with the nation's former paternity system, which was similar to the ones in effect in most of the U.S. and nearly every other Western country. In those systems, paternity is determined through court hearings that can take years and cost thousands of dollars in lawyers' fees.

Since its inception last year, more than 8,000 Costa Rican women have taken advantage of the new law. A preliminary study shows that the number of newborns whose fathers' names are not declared in the country's civil registry has dropped from 30% to about 10%.

"We think it's revolutionary," said Maria San Roman, director of the clinical laboratory at the country's largest public hospital, which performs the DNA tests.

The law had plenty of detractors. Many legislators feared that it would prove too costly because the state pays for the tests. This year, the lab will spend about $700,000 -- a significant amount in a country with an annual budget of about $2 billion.

Others feared that it would enable poor women to take advantage of rich men by naming them as fathers. There were worries that notorious lotharios would be hit with dozens of requests for DNA tests.

And some lawmakers had philosophical objections. Only women can force DNA tests under the law. A man has no right to force a DNA test if he suspects a woman of having borne another man's child.