Alabama court forces rape survivor to allow rapist to have visitation with children

[demmiblue]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) - A 32-year-old woman in Birmingham, Alabama says the state's laws have forced her to face the man she says raped her again and again. With Alabama's recent abortion ban, Jessica's story has gotten national attention, showing how the state is failing rape survivors. Jessica asked to have her last name omitted from this story to protect her children.

Jessica says she was continually raped years ago by her uncle, her mother's half-brother. Despite the evidence, including a DNA test, he was never convicted.

"Well, it all started when I was 12 or 13 years old, and he started climbing in my bed at night," she said.

She was impregnated 4 times as a result. At 14, she miscarried. At 16, she had a baby boy. At 18, she had her third child. He later died due to a disease common in cases of incest. At 19, she had her youngest son.

"I literally just felt like I didn't have any options," she said. In another interview, Jessica told The Washington Post she was forced by her family to marry her rapist. That marriage was later deemed illegal by a court due to a "familial relationship."

Recently, her accused rapist has been taking her to court and winning for visitation of her sons. Jessica says she is sharing her story in hopes it brings change.

https://www.knoe.com/content/news/Alabama-court-forces-rape-survivor-to-allow-rapist-to-have-visitation-with-children-511195642.html

Link to tweet

[Zoonart]

1. WTAF is wrong with these judges?

[democratisphere]

2. What is wrong with Alabama?

Jeebus H.

[Hortensis]

19. Well, some major knuckledraggers got in office and have

been dragging Alabama backwards. But if the good people of Alabama set themselves to kicking them out, including its minorities, they can. This legislature does not represent the typical resident, but as always, "It's the vote, Stupid."

On the plus side, a bill mandating children attend kindergarten is in the works so parents can't keep them home. Otoh, the current legislators laughed when an ex-athlete member wanted to approve very limited yoga for high schoolers, a huge no-go for xenophobes. Not the biggest issue, but all this stuff and a lot we don't hear about is in the papers there.

[lark]

14. They absolutely hate women,

and they are all Repugs, that is what makes them totally fucked up in the head, and sub-human.

[keithbvadu2]

3. We don't care if your uncle rapes you.

We don’t care if your uncle rapes you.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212191069

[northoftheborder]

4. This is so sick I have no words.

I'll never set one toe in Alabama again. This state is the absolute pit of deranged inhumanity.

[leftyladyfrommo]

5. It's all about punishing the victims.

If she allowed herself to be raped over and over then she needs to pay for it in the worst way imaginable


This is so sick.

I swear. Women need to take over running this country.

[beachbum bob]

6. to me, this should be a top election issue for all democrats running for office in Alabama

make GOP defend this every where in the state

[Doreen]

7. Whats next?

Woman in the U.S will be stoned to death for being raped? After they are found not to be pregnant or after they give birth to the rapists baby?

[LuvNewcastle]

11. I guess we could have honor killings, like they have in some countries.

Of course we would wait for the woman to deliver the incest baby before we throw acid in her face, or whatever the fundamentalists decide is proper.

[Doreen]

15. I do not think it will even be anything about honor.

It will be about, the bitch made the man do it and a female ( of any age ) should NEVER make a man do anything. It is always the females fault.

[LuvNewcastle]

17. Yes, as if she lured her drunk uncle to her bed every night.

[Doreen]

25. They ( the men ) will claim she looked at him in that certain

way and moved seductively on her way to bed. You know the crappy excuses they will come up with.

[Hortensis]

8. "We are one of two states in the Union that do not have a law that terminates

the rights of a rapist," said Rep. Juandalynn Givan (D) Jefferson County. ...

"I think the legislature is failing the women of Alabama. The justice system can do no more than what we enact into law."

The man that raped Jessica still has visitation rights to her two children. The judge told Jessica she'd have to spend 48 hours in jail for each visit she denied her rapist.

Rep. Givan has already taken steps to pre-file legislation for the next session that would strip rapists of their parental rights.

I was initially blaming the judge, but he may have had no options other than to follow the law. I imagine this will become an issue in Alabama and that bill will pass. If it doesn't that will be inflammatory news in itself, with a big election coming up. Hard as it is to believe sometimes, it's 2019 in a lot of households there also.

[KentuckyWoman]

27. Won't matter in this case

Uncle rapey was never convicted.

[Hortensis]

30. Despicable, but this case should help make changes.

We're only a couple long lifetimes from days when what's been held onto here was common. Females didn't have power.

[JDC]

9. fuck alabama. Period.

[MadDAsHell]

10. I'm confused by the # of children. If she miscarried at 14, then that wasn't a child. Wasn't viable.

So the pregnancy at 18 was #2.

[LuvNewcastle]

13. I noticed that too.

Either the writer got it wrong or they're counting the miscarriage as a "child."

[IronLionZion]

21. In Alabama they count the pregnancies

the same way eggs are chickens and acorns are trees

[SunSeeker]

24. Yes, she had a boy when she was 16, 18 and 19.

She had a miscarriage at 14 and one child died, leaving 2 boys:

She was impregnated 4 times as a result. At 14, she miscarried. At 16, she had a baby boy. At 18, she had her third child. He later died due to a disease common in cases of incest. At 19, she had her youngest son. 

[lindysalsagal]

12. He just proved his own assault and guilt. Lock his ass up!

Put him on the watch lists. Monitor him.

[SunSeeker]

16. Oh my fucking God, that scumbag uncle should be in jail for the rest of his life!!!

What the fuck is wrong with the Alabama justice system??

What the fuck is wrong with her family---FOUR rape pregnancies--and they forced her to marry her rapist uncle????

[smirkymonkey]

20. +1000

I know! I can't even get my mind around this. There is so much wrong here I don't even know where to start. You would think after the FIRST pregnancy at 14 her parents would have had a serious chat with her about the father of her child/miscarriage.

This is so fucked up in so many ways, from the family, to the judge, to the courts, to the political system that supports these laws. That poor woman has been through hell. I hope things turn around for her soon.

[appleannie1943]

18. Apparently the entire family thought it was normal for an uncle to do that.

Even at the age of 12 and 13, the parents did nothing to stop him from crawling into her bed.

[dhill926]

22. in a week of fucked up shit...

this is the most fucked up shit I've read yet....good god almighty....

[LiberalFighter]

23. If they really followed the Bible.

Deuteronomy 22:25-27

“But if in the field the man finds the girl who is engaged, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lies with her shall die. But you shall do nothing to the girl; there is no sin in the girl worthy of death, for just as a man rises against his neighbor and murders him, so is this case. When he found her in the field, the engaged girl cried out, but there was no one to save her.”

[Firestorm49]

26. Absolutely mind boggling. WTF is going on in this country?

[sop]

28. Her family probably voted for Judge Roy Moore, Sessions and Trump

And they wonder why they're called Deplorables.

[Ms. Toad]

29. As horrible as this is, it seriously misstates the legal dynamics

Her scumbag uncle was never convicted, so even if Alabama terminated the parental rights of rapists it would be completely irrelevant to the matter of visitation in this case.

He is not only (legally) not a rapist, he was - for some portion of time not identified in the article - her husband. The scumbag uncle has beeen recently released from prison for meth offenses, but since he had their 12-year-old son with him in the car when he was arrested, the children obviously have a long-term relationship with him already.

So from a child custody perspective, the discussion is about terminating the existing parent-child relationship - and more akin to determining whether an abusive spouse should have visitation rights with the children of that marriage.

All in all a horrendous situation. But this case is not a good poster child for terminating parental rights of rapists, since the children's rights to see him derive not from the act of rape, but from the ongoing parent-child relationship they had with him during the marriage of their parents.