I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2772 

To direct the Attorney General to make grants to States that have in place 

laws that terminate the parental rights of men who father children 

through rape. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 22, 2013 

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (for herself and Mr. MARINO) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To direct the Attorney General to make grants to States 

that have in place laws that terminate the parental rights 

of men who father children through rape. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rape Survivor Child 

5 Custody Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Men who father children through rape 

2 should be prohibited from visiting or having custody 

3 of those children. 

4 (2) According to several studies, it is estimated 

5 that there are between 25,000 and 32,000 rape-re6 lated pregnancies annually in the United States. 

7 (3) A substantial number of women choose to 

8 raise their child conceived through rape and, as a re9 sult, may face custody battles with their rapists. 

10 (4) According to one study, 32.3 percent of 

11 women who were raped and became pregnant as a 

12 result of the rape kept their child. 

13 (5) Another study found that, of the 73 percent 

14 of women who became pregnant as a result of a rape 

15 and carried their pregnancies to term, 64 percent 

16 raised their children. 

17 (6) Rape is one of the most under-prosecuted 

18 serious crimes, with estimates of criminal conviction 

19 occurring in less than 5 percent of rapes. 

20 (7) The clear and convincing evidence standard 

21 is the most common standard for termination of pa22 rental rights among the 50 States, territories, and 

23 the District of Columbia. 

24 (8) The Supreme Court established that the 

25 clear and convincing evidence standard satisfies due 


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1 process for allegations to terminate or restrict pa2 rental rights in Santosky v. Kramer (455 U.S. 745 

3 (1982)). 

4 (9) Currently only 6 States have statutes allow5 ing rape survivors to petition for the termination of 

6 parental rights of the rapist based on clear and con7 vincing evidence that the child was conceived 

8 through rape. 

9 (10) A rapist pursuing parental or custody 

10 rights forces the survivor to have continued inter11 action with the rapist, which can have traumatic 

12 psychological effects on the survivor, making it more 

13 difficult for her to recover. 

14 (11) These traumatic effects on the mother can 

15 severely negatively impact her ability to raise a 

16 healthy child. 

17 (12) Rapists may use the threat of pursuing 

18 custody or parental rights to coerce survivors into 

19 not prosecuting rape, or otherwise harass, intimi20 date, or manipulate them. 

21 SEC. 3. GRANTS AUTHORIZED. 

22 The Attorney General shall make grants to States 

23 that have in place a law that allows the mother of any 

24 child that was conceived through rape to seek court-or25 dered termination of the parental rights of her rapist with 


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1 regard to that child, which the court shall grant upon clear 

2 and convincing evidence of rape. 

3 SEC. 4. APPLICATION. 

4 A State seeking a grant under this Act shall submit 

5 an application to the Attorney General at such time, in 

6 such manner, and containing such information as the At7 torney General may reasonably require, including informa8 tion about the law described in section 3. 

9 SEC. 5. GRANT AMOUNT. 

10 The amount of a grant to a State under this Act shall 

11 be in an amount that is not greater than 10 percent of 

12 the average of the total amount of funding of the 3 most 

13 recent awards that the State received under the following 

14 grant programs: 

15 (1) Part T of title I of the Omnibus Crime Con16 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

17 3796gg et seq.) (commonly referred to as the 

18 ‘‘STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant 

19 Program’’). 

20 (2) Section 41601 of the Violence Against 

21 Women Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14043g) (commonly 

22 referred to as the ‘‘Sexual Assault Services Pro23 gram’’). 


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1 SEC. 6. GRANT TERM. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The term of a grant under this 

3 Act shall be for one year. 

4 (b) RENEWAL.—A State that receives a grant under 

5 this Act may submit an application for a renewal of such 

6 grant at such time, in such manner, and containing such 

7 information as the Attorney General may reasonably re8 quire. 

9 (c) LIMIT.—A State may not receive a grant under 

10 this Act for more than 4 years. 

11 SEC. 7. USES OF FUNDS. 

12 A State that receives a grant under this section shall 

13 use— 

14 (1) 25 percent of such funds for any of the per15 missible uses of funds under the grant program de16 scribed in paragraph (1) of section 5; and 

17 (2) 75 percent of such funds for any of the per18 missible uses of funds under the grant program de19 scribed in paragraph (2) of section 5. 

20 SEC. 8. TERMINATION DEFINED. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—In this Act, the term ‘‘termi22 nation’’ means, when used with respect to parental rights, 

23 a complete and final termination of the parent’s right to 

24 custody of, guardianship of, visitation with, access to, and 

25 inheritance from a child. 


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1 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec2 tion shall be construed to require a State, in order to re3 ceive a grant under this Act, to have in place a law that 

4 terminates any obligation of a person who fathered a child 

5 through rape to support the child. 

6 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

7 There is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 

8 for each of fiscal years 2014 through 2018. 

Æ 


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