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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowSome Indiana legislators are backing a change in state law aimed at denying parental rights to rapists if the assault results in a pregnancy.
The Legislature's criminal code study committee endorsed the proposal on Oct. 27, but some members cautioned that questions still need to be answered, including uncertainty over standard of proof, child support and adoption.
"I can't recall a bill where it seems like the policy objective is so clear and kind of a no-brainer, but then the minute you scratch the surface, all these complications come up," said state Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington.
Proposal sponsors Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville, and Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, say the goal is to prevent rapists from threatening to assert parental rights to compel victims to not testify or accept plea bargains, The (Munster) Times reported.
A similar bill from Slager failed to get out of a House committee last session, so the study committee worked to modify the proposal in preparing for the 2016 term.
Legislators decided that "clear and convincing evidence" of rape would be the standard to deny parental rights, even without a rape conviction, if it's in the child's interest. The committee also decided a conviction would automatically stand as evidence that denying parental rights is in the child's interest, unless proven otherwise by the rapist.
Lawmakers also said rapists would still have to pay child support if their parental rights are denied, at least until a second parent adopts the child.
Rape victims would have six months after a child's birth to ask a judge to find enough evidence of a crime to terminate parental rights. Minor victims would have two years after turning 18, unless a parent or guardian makes a request before that.
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