Dennis Keene (Source: DennisKeene.com)FRANKFORT, KY (FOX19) -
Rep. Dennis Keene (D-Wilder) will file legislation when the
General Assembly convenes on Tuesday to close a loophole in Kentucky law that
grants parental and visitation rights to convicted rapists should they choose
to seek those rights.
Currently,
Kentucky is one of 34 states that has no protection for rape victims who become
mothers as a result the rape.
"I was shocked when I heard about a case in Massachusetts last summer
where the victim was 14 years old when she was raped and was dealing with this
issue in the courts. I then learned that
Kentucky was one of the states with no law that protects the victim in this
circumstance," says Rep. Dennis Keene. "What
kind of society are we to force a victim of rape into a lifelong sentence with
a convicted perpetrator of such a violent crime?"
Keene's bill seeks to create a new
statute that states: "Any person who has been convicted of rape in the first
degree in which the victim of that rape has conceived and delivered a child
shall not be entitled to parental or visitation rights."
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