CBA Record

Legal Protections for Rape Victims and Children Conceived by Rape By Lindsay R. Foye

A ttendees at the AFW’s monthly meeting on February 23 were privileged to hear attorney Shauna Prewitt give a presentation titled “When Sexual Assault Results in Parenthood: Leg- islative Options to Protect Victims’ Rights.” Prewitt, an associate in the Litigation Group of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, educated the audience about inadequate legal protections in many states for rape victims and children born as a result of rape. She also discussed her advocacy and legislative efforts to improve existing protections, resulting in the enact- ment of rape-conception custody laws around the nation. Prewitt opened the audience’s eyes to a nightmarish situation that rarely gets the public attention it deserves: a woman who becomes pregnant through rape and decides to raise the child herself may be forced into a custody battle if the rapist decides to assert his parental rights. Even if the attacker is eventually convicted of rape, the slow pace of the criminal justice system means that the mother may have to spend years negotiating visitation schedules and coordinating parenting decisions with the man who attacked her. Prewitt recounted the decision of one family court judge who refused to terminate a convicted rap- ist’s parental rights because the man had formed a relationship with the child during the two-year period between the child’s birth and the father’s conviction.This judge reasoned that the trauma experienced by the mother when forced to see her attacker again to comply with a court-ordered visitation schedule was not a relevant con- sideration in applying the “best interest of the child” legal standard. Shockingly, this

judge expressly concluded that being a convicted rapist was not inconsistent with being a good father. Since she was a law student, Prewitt has advocated locally and nationally for changes to custody laws that would pre- vent such perverse outcomes for women who become mothers through rape, and for their children. Prewitt explained how persistent misconceptions about rape have created barriers to such legislative changes. For example, many people assume that women who become pregnant through rape would not want to raise “the rapist’s child” and would therefore choose to either abort the pregnancy or put the child up for adoption. This misconception leads many people to assume that a woman who becomes pregnant through rape and decides to raise the child must not have actually been a rape victim. In fact, Prewitt informed the audience the available stud- ies on this topic reveal that over 30% of women who conceived through rape chose to carry their pregnancies to term and raise the children themselves. Other barriers include medically ill- informed opinions such as those expressed by former Congressman Todd Akin that “legitimate rape rarely leads to pregnancy.” Prewitt garnered national attention in 2012 when she published an open letter counter- ing Akin’s obtuse statement by sharing her personal story of becoming pregnant as a result of rape, deciding to keep and raise her daughter, and discovering the legal obstacles for women like her who decide to raise a child conceived through rape. In spite of these obstacles, Prewitt has had remarkable success in drafting and helping to achieve passage of legislation

that makes it easier for rape victims to avoid custody battles with their attackers. In the past five years, Prewitt has drafted and/or helped pass legislation in 14 states, including Illinois, and she is currently working with more states that are consider- ing similar legislation. Prewitt also worked with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz to draft the Rape Survivor Child Custody Act, which President Obama signed into law last year as part of the Jus- tice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015. Shauna Prewitt’s personal story and professional accomplishments are tremen- dously inspiring, and her engaging presen- tation led to much spirited discussion in the packed meeting room. For more information on the CBA’s Alliance for Women, go to www. chicagobar.org/afw.

14 APRIL/MAY 2016