WASHINGTON 鈥� Maryland came in for what 鈥淒aily Show鈥� correspondent Samantha Bee called 鈥渁 little good old-fashioned state-shaming鈥� when the state failed to change a law that allows rapists to retain their parental rights if their victim keeps her baby.
In the 鈥淒aily Show鈥� segment, Bee learns that a number of states 鈥� Maryland among them 鈥� allow a rapist to sue for custody or visitation or other parental rights, and replies, 鈥淭his canNOT be real!鈥�
That鈥檚 the way Maryland state Sen. Jamie Raskin felt. He鈥檚 one of the Maryland lawmakers who鈥檚 tried three times to pass a law that would allow a woman to deny her rapist鈥檚 parental rights, but as he explains, 鈥渢his is just one of those bills that gets batted back and forth like a ping-pong ball between the two chambers鈥� in the Maryland General Assembly.
Raskin says the bill stalled in the House.聽Lisae Jordan, executive director of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, says current law 鈥渢reats the rapist like any other father.鈥�
Jordan explains that the bill proposed in Annapolis during this Assembly session would allow victims to terminate parental rights, just as they could if there were allegations of child abuse or neglect. In those cases, Jordan and Raskin point out that a parent doesn鈥檛 have to be convicted of abuse or neglect in order to terminate parental rights. They want the same to be true in cases of alleged rape.
Raskin says after the 鈥淒aily Show鈥� segment aired in the final weeks of the Assembly session, 鈥淪uddenly everybody鈥檚 been getting deluged with emails.鈥�
Raskin adds, 鈥淓very year, more and more people 鈥榞et it,鈥� and Maryland will get this right. And I鈥檓 hoping that next session is the session to do it.鈥�
Jordan agrees, saying 鈥淚 really am grateful to 鈥楾he Daily Show.鈥欌�� But she adds, 鈥淚t would be ironic that a comedy news show would help our advocacy so much.鈥�
See the ‘Daily Show’ report here:
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report.
