Rapists Can Get Parental Rights

Wait just a minute! Rapists have rights to the children that they have created while violently forcing themselves on women? After attacking another human being in the most personal of ways, if the victim finds herself pregnant, the man responsible can obtain the right to maintain various forms of contact in an American court of law? No, I don't believe it. Who would believe anything as ridiculous as this? Not many, but believe it or not, it's possible.

Of the approximate 32,000/year impregnated rape victims, half are unable to deal with the added trauma of carrying their pregnancies to term. Who can blame them after having suffered the horror of being forced to engage in unwanted sexual activity. To have to look at the result of such an act in the mirror, every waking day, must be unbearable. So imagine what it's like for a rape victim to decide on having the baby, keeping it, and then receiving notice that a paternity suit has been filed by the very man who violated her.

Laws on paternity issues vary from state to state and few of them address the very real rape issue that is often ignored in America. Because of this, most courts are forced to award paternity rights unless in rare cases, the victim can prove she was raped. Even if she can prove it, the victim would already have been forced to face her attacker and relive the experience. This means that even if the attacker is allowed to file for paternity rights, he has the power to bring the woman that he raped into court to face him. He has the power to harass her through a system that is supposed to protect, not inflict pain. If he wins, he could have the power to harass and torment through constant contact, whether it be through court approved visitation, letters, payments, or phone calls. How is this allowed in America?

What makes the matter worse is there is very little being done to stop this. The issue receives little attention by advocacy groups because many don't think it is an issue. If a man rapes his wife and she had a baby as a result, he has automatic parental rights unless otherwise stated by the courts. If the attacker is acquainted with the victim, which is the case in most rapes, then it is even easier for him to establish parental rights. If the two are strangers to each other, it is unlikely that the attacker will come forward for fear of incriminating himself. It's harder to prove rape if it is the woman's husband, boss, boyfriend, or acquaintance of some sort. It's hard to imagine anyone seeking parental rights just to torment. It's even harder to believe that there are loopholes in the courts that would make it rather simple for rapists to do this.

So women who are brave and determined to raise their children despite the violent way they may have been brought into this world have to face these ugly possibilities. Can you imagine having to share your baby with someone who violated you? Someone who you don't know what they would do to your child just to torment you? Having to talk to them let alone see them at all would be seemingly impossible to bear. Yet there are women who are strong enough to endure this. It's amazing to me that anyone could be that strong. If they can endure that kind of pain, why can't we endure whatever it takes to stop rapists from being able to cause more pain. I hope this raises a little more awareness on the issue.