Impregnation rapists, parental rights, and the often ignored constitutional rights of victims: An important case study from Massachusetts

Abstract In 2015, Congress passed a law regarding victims who become pregnant from rape. Specifically, the new federal law offers funding incentives to encourage state legislatures to enact laws related to parental rights when rapists impregnate their victims. Since that time, and even prior, many states have been proposing and passing legislation on the topic. This article addresses the ways that such laws ignore the important constitutional rights of rape victims and how these laws create rather than prohibit parental rights for rapists by assuming, incorrectly, that parentage is caused by DNA alone. This article tracks the law in Massachusetts after an impregnated fourteen year-old rape victim was forced by the criminal court judge presiding over her rape case to participate in family court for 16 years with her attacker. The victim objected to the jurisdiction of the family court on the grounds that the criminal court judge had no authority to send her to family court and that the rapist had no parental rights to adjudicate in any court. She also argued that she had a constitutional right not to be forced by the government to participate in family court proceedings for one day, much less 16 years, with the man who raped her.