Yesterday, the comments of one presidential candidate’s attorney sparked a firestorm. While answering questions regarding a deposition given by the candidate’s wife, the attorney responded with an inflammatory and erroneous claim. He claimed that, “You cannot rape your spouse. And there’s very clear case law.” This is wrong.
This statement reflects a dangerous lack of awareness of both the current legal status of marital rape and of the dynamics of sexual assault more broadly.
Current statistics regarding marital rape are difficult to estimate. However, it is known that 8.8% of women have experienced rape by an intimate partner, and 15.8% of women have had an intimate partner commit some form of sexual violence other than rape.1
Marital rape is also often part of a larger picture of physical and emotional abuse. Sometimes the fact that there is physical violence overshadows the sexual violence and so the sexual violence is not addressed. It is important that someone who has sexually victimized by their spouse get help.
The Facts:
1. Having sex with a person one time does not imply consent to any future sexual acts.
2. Being married to a person does not equal consent.
3. Marital rape or sexual assault can be the basis for a civil order of protection—even if a case cannot be prosecuted.
4. Marital rape or sexual assault can be grounds for divorce.
5. A wife does not need her husband’s consent to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.
6. There are specialized counseling and legal services available for marital rape survivors.
Help is available. Contact your local Rape Crisis Center or MCASA’s Sexual Assault Legal Institute for more information.2
1. Division for Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prevalence and Characteristics of Sexual Violence, Stalking, and Intimate Partner Violence Victimization — National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, United States, 2011.
2. Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault. "I DO" to Marriage is NOT Consent to Rape.
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