What is the legal difference between an unmarried mother and her illegitimate child?
Saskatchewan, Canada
The following excerpt is from D.S.W. v. R.H., 1988 CanLII 5247 (SK CA):
The same argument may be put another way. There is, it is argued, one difference between an unmarried mother and her illegitimate child and all other parents which makes legal distinctions necessary. That distinction is that the father is not known until the court makes a finding. On the other hand, the mother is always known. The distinction is now illusory. As recognized by the judges of first instance in Bomboir v. Harlow and Gorzen v. Litz and some of the U.S. authorities cited below, science has now developed means that can, with very near absolute certainty, determine whether a person is the biological father of a child. In any event, the identity of the father is a question of fact, and there is no reason why an unmarried mother should be set apart in terms of her right to prove that fact: Gorzen v. Litz.
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