At the age of 21, during her senior year in college, Shauna Prewitt was raped. She became pregnant, opted to keep the child and had a baby girl.
Ms. Prewitt pressed criminal charges against her attacker. Her rapist responded by asserting legal custody rights over their child. Ms. Prewitt promptly withdrew her criminal complaint. Her attacker then followed suit by withdrawing his custody petition.
"When no law prohibits a rapist from exercising [child custody] rights," says Ms. Prewitt, who is now a Chicago-based attorney and women's rights advocate, "a woman may feel forced to bargain away her legal rights to a criminal trial in exchange for the rapist dropping the bid to have access to her child."
Astonishingly, in nearly every state, men who father children through rape can assert child custody and visitation rights. Thirty-one states offer no restrictions whatsoever.
According to Ms. Prewitt, raped women who are required to share custody and visitation privileges with their rapists may never overcome their rapes. "Forcing a woman to repeatedly face her rapist, or reminders of him, is likely to impede her recovery process," she says.
Pennsylvania ranks among states offering rape victims the "most protection" against rapists who later seek child custody privileges, according to recent media reports.
Ms. Prewitt pressed criminal charges against her attacker. Her rapist responded by asserting legal custody rights over their child. Ms. Prewitt promptly withdrew her criminal complaint. Her attacker then followed suit by withdrawing his custody petition.
"When no law prohibits a rapist from exercising [child custody] rights," says Ms. Prewitt, who is now a Chicago-based attorney and women's rights advocate, "a woman may feel forced to bargain away her legal rights to a criminal trial in exchange for the rapist dropping the bid to have access to her child."
Astonishingly, in nearly every state, men who father children through rape can assert child custody and visitation rights. Thirty-one states offer no restrictions whatsoever.
According to Ms. Prewitt, raped women who are required to share custody and visitation privileges with their rapists may never overcome their rapes. "Forcing a woman to repeatedly face her rapist, or reminders of him, is likely to impede her recovery process," she says.
Pennsylvania ranks among states offering rape victims the "most protection" against rapists who later seek child custody privileges, according to recent media reports.
