This bill seeks to protect the rights and well-being of children conceived through sexual assault by automatically terminating the parental rights of the convicted offender, ensuring the child is not further subjected to harm or manipulation by their perpetrator. Call it “Termination of Parental Rights in Sexual Assault Cases Act” but refer to it as “Winnie’s Law.”
I’m already talking to Texas State Representatives about this but I would like it to be Federal and not just for Texas.
I absolutely agree. Sexual assault, should you have gone through it, tears out a piece of your soul permanently. It’s hidden irreparable harm, that if you saw it represented in the exterior of a person you would indeed gasp at the horror.
The assailant/attacker/abuser violated another person’s mind, body and soul in this existence. Why would we expose a child to a person who chose one of the greatest violations you can commit on another human being?
These aren’t fathers or dads who create a child. They are violent, power hungry, sick individuals who should not be around the child.
And this doesn’t even address re-exposing the victim to the criminal, the continued torture the mother faces having to see the violator, worry about their child, and interacting closely in order to provide the process of sharing a child.
I agree.
Remember when judges were there to use their judgement? That’s the whole purpose of having judges, to use their good judgement to give justice. ‘Justice is blind’ was supposed to mean blind to status, wealth, and power, not sense.
As with all legislation considering Children and/or “Sexual assault” there’s a delicate balance to be found where the guidelines make positive outcomes more likely without restricting options for the diversity of possible cases to be solved in uniquely appropriate ways.
The goal is to defend and support the child of rape. We also want to rig the game so that there is only downside and no benefit to be had by the rapist. Removing rights to claim the child while retaining responsibility for the conception is a needle to thread. I feel it is important to include the definition of the needle in the threading of it to guide the hand of future legislators when amending it or translating it to a new arena (state to federal). The welfare of the mother is important, and related, and i think it beneficial to address it separately, to keep policies lean and readable.
With that framing, i think that making parental rights void by default in situations where there’s a rape-like conviction to be striking an excellent balance.
If someone is convicted of raping the woman and impregnating her, perhaps legally it could be proposed to be considered from the distinction that what happened was violent crime not ‘sexuality’ under any format and proceeds from there?
It’s also unconscionable that the victim would have to be re-victimized by having to suffer contact with the offender until the child reaches the age of majority.
I would like to put chemical castration on the table as a means to prevent any further sexual assaults. In Italy they just passed that law we could do it all over the United States, that would be fantastic.
I believe this does not go far enough. There has to be a fee added to it. You raped someone and you are now responsible for this child. Child support should be mandated no matter whose custody the child is in. If the child is adopted to someone outside the maternal family then these funds should be placed in an account for when the child turn 18.
This is a terrible idea. You have no idea of the deceit that is going on and innocent men who are being arrested and convicted due to our police doing what amounts to entrapment stings. It is wide spread and all over the country. The proof of the crime should dictate what happens and this should be done on an individual basis if at all. I have lost all faith in our system and do not trust them to protect our loved ones.
I’d be down with this however I feel like that could also backfire and encourage more assaults without the fear of impregnating a victim. Definitely a conversation to be had
Why stop at them just giving away their rights? They should pay restitution and be put in a national database that is easy for the public to use.
My foster daughter was raped at age 12, gave birth right before her 13th birthday by a 20 year old man! He went to prison and her child was given up for adoption at 6 months old. The adopted parents can’t adopt the child because the “father” is refusing to sign over his rights to the child. My foster daughter is still a minor but wants what’s best for her child and knows she can’t give her the life the adoptive family can right now. The “man” is using the child as a pawn to continue having power over my foster daughter and is doing it to hurt her. He even told the judge he would willingly sign over his rights if his sentence was shortened! So he obviously doesn’t care about the child, he only wants to re-victimize my foster daughter and in turn, her child.
What a terrible thing. I’m so sorry this happened to your foster daughter and your family and to your daughter’s child. God bless her for having her baby. What a horrible thing she’s gone through and it was good and generous of her to go through more to have her child instead of turning to abortion like most would today. Of course I don’t know her and it’s none of my business but I feel proud of her somehow anyways. Good for you kid. You did right at every step even when wrong was done to you.
She is so strong! She loves her child and thankfully the adoptive parents are willing to allow her to be a part of her child’s life. The “man” who raped her is getting out of prison this month! He was only sentenced to 10 years and is getting out in less than 4! We’ve hired a lawyer to help get his rights terminated but I’m sure the judge will agree but as of now, he has “rights” to the child he produced by raping a 12-year-old! How is that right? That’s why I want this law passed. As soon as that DNA test came back that he IS the father, his rights should have been terminated on the spot!
I agree completely. I have no idea how this situation could even occur.
Judges are there to use their human judgement to apply the law to the circumstances before them. This is how one law can have justice in so many different circumstances, because the judge applies the sense God gave them to fulfill the intent of the law.
Somewhere this got changed too, like so much in our civilization, when no one was looking. It’s become ‘letter of the law’ instead of caring about the intent of the law. Which makes the system increasingly unworkable because it requires more and more and more laws to be written to try to cover every situation. Some discretion and good judgement used to handle it.
A proven rapist is not a father, he’s a criminal who happened to leave sperm. It’s not the same thing as people who willingly had sex in whatever circumstances.