Board Thread:Show-Related Questions/@comment-37955886-20181228045544/@comment-27794543-20181228055941

I would assume the one-child law applies to women & men equally - thus a man who has two biological children would get floated.

The series never mentions Bellamy's or Octavia's biological fathers (I don't think it even mentions they were half siblings – that was confirmed by writers via twitter/tumblr). Though it's never stated, it would be logical that after Octavia was found, a paternity DNA test would be run to find the father and if he has another child & he's alive, he would also be floated.

The book series is a bit different. There is still the one-child rule, but second children do not get imprisoned – they, like all orphans, get placed into the care center (the orphanage on the Colony). In addition, even for first child, everyone must receive permission before getting pregnant. E.g. Glass got arrested and Carter, who she claimed was the father, got floated even though neither had a child before.

There are some things that don't make sense in the books. Their medical technology is super-advanced but they don't bother with paternity tests – Carter was floated on Glass's words even though he told them he wasn't the father and he wasn't, Luke was. Also, how was Bellamy a 'legal' child since I'm pretty sure the records didn't say Chancellor Jaha was his father (since Jaha's only legal child is Wells), so Bellamy's mother must have had permission to have a child with another man & then slept with Jaha instead.