Gov. Charlie Crist denied he fathered a child 17 years ago. But some wonder whether he has an ethical duty to prove it.

I’m telling you, there is a new trend on the horizon. The trend involves adoption and politics. First, a presidential candidate, who happens to be an adoptee is considering a search for his birth mother. Then, another politician discovers a sibling who ends up attending his swearing-in eremony.

The current story involves a political figure that an adoptee believes could be her birth father. He denies to the press that he is not her birth dad. Reportedly, he is not returning calls that her adoptive parents have made to him. Now, there is talk of a DNA test. The ethical issue is whether he owes it to her or not. The whole DNA testing issue could open up a whole new array of interesting scenarios. In a way, I guess it already has done that.

What’s a girl to do? Trust a politician who says he is not your birth dad, or ask him to take a DNA test? How this story even made it in the news is an interesting question alone. Did the young adoptee go to reporters and share her story? Sounds more like her adoptive parents may have. Can you imagine a politician calling a press conference to announce that he is not the birth dad of this young woman? Reading further, I think that is just what he did.

Can you imagine the conversations that might have gone on with this political figure and his cronies as to whether to comment on the allegation or even bring it up? Wouldn’t it have been fascinating to hear the dialogue in that room?

Does Governor Crist have an ethical and moral obligation to submit to a DNA test to prove to this young women that he is not her birth dad? Why or why not? I understand how pressing the need to locate birth family often is for an adoptee, so I say what would it hurt him?

In another story on this subject Governor Crist is quoted as saying that he will "not dignify with a comment"' a request from the parents of a girl adopted 17 years ago to confirm whether or not he is the child's biological father.

Would it help if she asked him to "please" do a DNA test? DNA tests don't hurt, right? Why not do the right thing and do the test? Maybe he thinks it is not that important? I think this young woman has a right to know. Is his private business just that, or do the people who elected him have a right to know? Lots of ethical questions presented in this story.