The Member of Parliament for Gomoa Central, Kwame Asare Obeng, popularly known as A Plus, has disclosed his intention to introduce a private member’s bill aimed at sanctioning women found guilty of paternity fraud.

During an appearance on Prime Time with George Quaye, he stated that there should be “a legislation that prescribes punishment for people who engage in paternity fraud”.

A Plus argued that in some instances, women are conscious of having had more than one partner within a particular timeframe. He noted that “women knows that between a certain period they were having something to do with one or two men”.

To support his position, he referenced what he described as observations from a medical facility, saying “out of 10 women who come for DNA with their kids about four do not belong to the men”.

The lawmaker contended that penalties for paternity fraud must be stringent, especially when the woman involved is married. In his words, “the punishment must be more if she’s married than a single woman”.

He highlighted what he sees as the psychological and financial strain faced by men who unknowingly raise children who are not biologically theirs. He pointed to cases where “a woman goes to court with her husband and three kids or four kids do not belong to the man”.

A Plus insisted that there is “no justification” for a woman to mislead a man regarding the paternity of a child, even in situations where she may have endured stigma over infertility. He called for penalties “if a DNA test is done and it is discovered that you the woman went to cheat or for whatever reason the child is not your husband’s and you hadn’t declared it early on”.

He also referred to what he described as the extreme emotional toll such revelations can have, recalling a situation where “somebody committed suicide somewhere outside” after discovering that the children he had brought up were not his biological offspring.