Just to clear up a common misconception: there is a difference between a civil annulment and a church annulment. I believe that for a civil annulment, non-consummation may be an important consideration (haven't heard of an actual civil annulment in years). A church annulment says that the marriage did not meet the standard for the sacrament of matrimony. While non-consummation may be an argument in some cases, it's far from the only -- or even leading -- argument.
I agree that the church annulment process has been widely abused, outrageously in the U.S. But it has no effect on civil categories: e.g., legitimacy of children, which is strictly in the civil category. This is why a person who gets a church annulment must also divorce to marry again legally.