Alabama is one of two states with no law terminating parental rights for a person found to have conceived a child by rape or incest, a fact that has gained new significance since state lawmakers adopted the nation’s strictest abortion ban last month. The Alabama abortion law even outlaws the procedure for victims of sexual assault, and while the ban has already been challenged in court, activists fear it could reduce access to the procedure, forcing rape survivors to bear children and co-parent with their attackers.
Laws like this — or the lack of them — could affect thousands of parents and children annually. The estimated number of rape-related pregnancies in the United States ranges from 7,750 to 32,000, but there’s no accurate data for how many women keep those children.
For those who do raise their children, it’s not unheard of for the men to seek involvement in their lives. As many as 90% of rapes are committed by attackers whom the survivors know.
“Many rapists commit assaults as a way to dominate and control...Seeking custody is just a continuation of that desire to dominate.”
-Lisae C. Jordan, Executive Director of MCASA
For more about the Alabama law and a discussion of related state legislation across the country, you can read the full Washington Post article here. And for more about Maryland's law allowing rape survivors to petition to terminate the parental rights of rapists, click here.
