The Custody Battles Awaiting Mothers of Children Conceived in Rape

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

Politics, Arts, News, Wnyc, Books, David, Storytelling, Society & Culture, Yorker, New, Remnick

4.2 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2023

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

Exceptions in the case of rape used to be considered a necessity in abortion legislation, even within the pro-life movement. But today ten states have no rape exception in their abortion laws, and more will likely consider moving in that direction this year. “I think few people understand how common this scenario actually is,” the contributing writer Eren Orbey, who has reported on the issue, says; according to C.D.C. statistics, nearly three million women have become pregnant as a result of rape. With abortion laws changing, more and more women will be forced to carry these pregnancies to term. In some cases, they’ll find themselves tied to their assailants through the family-court system until their children turn eighteen. “Many states . . . require a conviction for first-degree rape—which is really hard to come by even if there’s a lot of evidence—in order to terminate parental rights,” Lucy Guarnera, a professor of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia, says. Orbey talks with Guarnera, one of a few researchers who have studied this issue in depth, and with a mother of twins about the challenges of parenthood under these conditions. “The reality is: these exceptions are far less effective than we assume they are,” Orbey says. “They create the false impression that we’re taking care of all rape survivors when we’re not.”

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.
0:07.9	Since the end of Roe v. Wade, and in fact, even before, many states have enacted bans or effective bans on abortion.
0:16.7	One of the most fraught questions has been, what exceptions should be made and when, if any at all?
0:23.6	Exceptions in the case of pregnancy from rape or incest used to be considered necessary, even within the pro-life movement, and that's all changed.
0:33.1	To date, 10 states have no rape exception in their abortion restrictions. More will likely consider
0:39.2	moving in that direction this year. And as some members of Congress weigh the idea of a federal
0:44.1	abortion ban, the question now concerns every one of us. I think few people understand how common
0:51.4	this scenario actually is. According to the CDC, almost 3 million women in the U.S. have become pregnant as a result of rape.
1:00.1	Recently, the New Yorker's Aren Orbe took a closer look at what happens when a woman conceives during an act of sexual assault,
1:06.5	and what happens when those pregnancies go to term.
1:10.6	There's one woman in particular whose story really stuck with me.
1:13.6	I'm going to call her Teresa.
1:15.6	She told me that when she first discovered she was pregnant, this was back in 2016.
1:20.6	She was in her mid-30s, she was in a good place in her career, and she felt ready to have a child.
1:25.6	The day I found out I was pregnant, I went to Rite Aid because my period hadn't started.
1:33.3	So I said, let me just go to Rite Aid and take a pregnancy test.
1:38.3	And I took it right there in the bathroom, the Rite Aid, in the dirty restroom, I took the pregnancy test.
1:43.3	And it was positive. And when I saw that,
1:47.2	I just lit up, like, I wanted the whole store to know that I was pregnant. She found out at her
1:52.1	first prenatal appointment that she was actually pregnant with twins, a girl and a boy. During her pregnancy,
1:59.7	her relationship with her partner at the time ended up falling apart,
2:03.5	but she still wanted to raise the twins. She felt that she had the support she needed from her
	...

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