Gypsy-Rose Blanchard made a “very unusual” move by taking a pre-birth paternity test to establish the father of her unborn child. The 33-year-old is with her boyfriend, Ken Urker, who she’s expecting her child with. However, People reported that she and her estranged husband, Ryan Anderson, are still legally married. Due to that, as confirmed by Beau Brock, a lawyer in the state, Ryan will be listed as the father on the baby’s birth certificate if they have not been divorced for 300 days at the time of the birth. But Gypsy wanted to set the record straight and confirm that Ken is, in fact, her child’s father.
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A Louisiana law prompted her decision.
A Louisiana law is what prompted Gypsy to get what is known as a Noninvasive Prenatal Paternity test. It states, “In the state of Louisiana, if the mother and father are not married when their child is born, the biological father does not have any legal rights to his child and his name will not appear on his child’s birth certificate unless paternity is established.”
The law adds that if unmarried and both parties can agree they’re the biological parents, then an Acknowledgment of Paternity Affidavit could be completed while at the hospital and the father’s name could then be added to the birth certificate.
Beau explained why the law is in place.
“There’s a legal presumption in Louisiana that if you have a child while you’re married, it’s presumed to be the husband’s child. It’s done that way to protect the child,” the lawyer told People. “All the laws in Louisiana concerning paternity are designed to protect the child and make sure the child has a father and a mother to provide for them. So that presumption can be overcome by DNA and that’s what people have to do.”
Here’s Gypsy’s reason for doing the test.
As reported by TMZ, Gypsy wasn’t questioning if Ken was the father of her child. Instead, she just wanted to offer closure to the public and to Ryan so all can be assured he is indeed not the father. The estranged husband’s attorney, Randy J. Fuerst, believes that her decision was “highly unusual.”
The lawyer said performing a NIPP test is rare.
“In the 40-something years of practice — of myself and other attorneys in this office for combined longer periods of time — we have never seen someone do a pre-birth paternity test because there is no need to do that,” Randy stated. “Usually you wait until the birth of the child and then the paternity test is done. And if it turns out, as we suspect, the child is her current boyfriend’s, then the birth certificate is changed with an order of the court subsequent to the birth of the child.”
People have been responding to her decision.
Many people called the law “ridiculous” and “backward.” One person explained, “For those who don’t research…. In some states it’s automatically who you are married to that is listed as the father no matter who the father is, unless you prove it by doing a test. Usually this is done after the baby is born and you have to do a bunch of paper work to change the birth certificate.”
Another fan wrote, “All I know if I was pregnant the right father should be on the birth certificate.. whoever dna matches the babies.”