Pregnancy: General Pregnancy And Pregnancy Prevention Questions/Concerns / Question
Published: September 26, 2002
Dear TeenHealthFX,
If you ever get date-raped and get pregnant, will they have to help pay for the baby? Thank you.
Signed: Pregnant By Date Rape
Dear Pregnant By Date Rape,
Wow, that is a great question! Unfortunately, there is no clear-cut answer to it. This is pretty much a legal question, and the laws regarding child support vary from state to state. In most cases, when a man fathers a child, he is responsible for providing support to his child. However, by giving this support, two important issues come up. One is whether or not this gives him the right to spend time with his child and the other is whether the mother actually wants to have this sort of contact with or ties to her rapist. It used to be that even though rapists became fathers because of forcing a woman to have sex they still had parental rights over the child. Courts could even require mothers who were raped to bring their children for visitation to their rapist if he was serving time in prison. However, recent court cases have challenged this rule, and said that if a man became a father because of rape, he gave up his right to the child because his becoming a father was an illegal act. It varies from state to state which rule is followed.
In addition, a lot of women who are raped, either on dates or randomly, do not want to have any sort of contact with their rapist because of the emotional aspects of being sexually violated. By asking the rapist to provide child support, there will be more contact than some women wish to have. So, they decide to raise the child on their own.
Even though TeenHealthFX couldn't find any laws about this, it is likely that if a woman can prove that she was date raped and got pregnant as a result (which, by the way, happens in approximately 7% of all rape cases), then the father of the baby should have to provide child support (given that he is proven to be the father). Interestingly, in some states, the state will pay child support until the child reaches the age of 18, after which time the state can sue the rapist for 18 years of back child support, and then the rapist gets no parental rights whatsoever.
If you or anyone you know has been raped, you can contact RAIN - Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network at (800) 656.HOPE (4673) 24 hours, 7days a week.
Signed: TeenHealthFX
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