CNN Reporting Nov. 17, 2016
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/17/health/rape-parental-rights/Trapped in a bad dream.
That's how 18-year-old Noemi felt when she learned that she had no choice but to hand over her baby daughter to the man convicted of sexually assaulting her.
Noemi's child was conceived in the sexual assault, and Nebraska's laws on parental rights forced her to agree to court-sanctioned visits between her daughter and her attacker.
For Noemi, who asked CNN to protect her privacy by not using her last name, it amounts to putting the most cherished part of her life in harm's way.
Her biggest fear is that her child will "get hurt or something bad will happen to her," Noemi told CNN's Lisa Ling. "I can't tell what he will do to my daughter."
Noemi's story isn't unusual. Across America, there are state laws that don't protect women who became pregnant through rape from being forced to share their children with their rapists. It's a common problem. Exact stats aren't tracked, but there are an estimated 17,000 to 32,000 rape-related pregnancies in the United States each year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. About 32% to 50% of impregnated rape victims keep their babies, according to various studies.
Those estimates would put between 5,000 and 16,000 women at risk of falling into this legal limbo every year, depending on where they live and where the attack took place.
It seems pregnancy during rape is a very real and scary possibility. Although I doubt most rapists would want to have contact with their victims.