31 states in the US allow a convicted rapist to sue for custody and visitation rights of his victim's child. This is a right granted by omission - the states simply assume that a rapist would not WANT custody over the child, but this is a very real threat, and one that can be held over a victim's head to pressure her into not pressing charges against her rapist should she choose to keep her baby.
The federal government of the US needs to pass a law that, like Missouri, establishes that a "biological father's guilty plea or conviction of forcible rape of the birth mother is conclusive evidence to termination of his rights," the term forcible needs to be removed.



