No one would dispute that for most of U.S. history, nonmarital children suffered significant legal and societal discrimination. Although many individuals believe that the legal disabilities attached to “illegitimate” status have disappeared in the last forty years, this Article demonstrates that the law continues to discriminate against nonmarital children in a number of areas, including postsecondary education support, citizenship, and intestate succession. Furthermore, the federal government’s recent efforts to promote marriage and reduce nonmarital births, along with courts’ recent rejection of same-sex marriage claims on the ground that the state’s goal in creating marriage is to discourage nonmarital childbearing, have signaled that nonmarital families are deviant. These messages have facilitated societal disapproval of nonmarital families and their children. A majority of Americans believe that the increase in nonmarital births is a “big problem” for society and almost 50% believe that it is always or almost always wrong for an unmarried woman to have a child. Courts are aware of societal biases against nonmarital children and have upheld doctrines, such as the presumption of legitimacy, in part, to protect children from the “stigma of illegitimacy.” Children suffer both tangible and intangible harms as a result of legal discrimination and societal biases against nonmarital children.

This Article proposes mechanisms lawmakers should adopt to support marital families without simultaneously expressing disapproval of nonmarital families, including adopting a presumption of parenthood for nonmarital children.