[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1257 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1257

 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

                             March 4, 2015

Ms. Wasserman Schultz (for herself, Mr. Marino, Ms. Frankel of Florida, 
 Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Ms. Moore, 
Mr. Meehan, Mr. Joyce, Ms. Fudge, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Mr. 
  Honda, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Takano, and Mr. 
   Israel) 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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rape Survivor Child Custody Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Men who father children through rape should be 
        prohibited from visiting or having custody of those children.
            (2) According to several studies, it is estimated that 
        there are between 25,000 and 32,000 rape-related pregnancies 
        annually in the United States.
            (3) A substantial number of women choose to raise their 
        child conceived through rape and, as a result, may face custody 
        battles with their rapists.
            (4) According to one study, 32.3 percent of women who were 
        raped and became pregnant as a result of the rape kept their 
        child.
            (5) Another study found that, of the 73 percent of women 
        who became pregnant as a result of a rape and carried their 
        pregnancies to term, 64 percent raised their children.
            (6) Rape is one of the most under-prosecuted serious 
        crimes, with estimates of criminal conviction occurring in less 
        than 5 percent of rapes.
            (7) The clear and convincing evidence standard is the most 
        common standard for termination of parental rights among the 50 
        States, territories, and the District of Columbia.
            (8) The Supreme Court established that the clear and 
        convincing evidence standard satisfies due process for 
        allegations to terminate or restrict parental rights in 
        Santosky v. Kramer (455 U.S. 745 (1982)).
            (9) Currently only 6 States have statutes allowing rape 
        survivors to petition for the termination of parental rights of 
        the rapist based on clear and convincing evidence that the 
        child was conceived through rape.
            (10) A rapist pursuing parental or custody rights forces 
        the survivor to have continued interaction with the rapist, 
        which can have traumatic psychological effects on the survivor, 
        making it more difficult for her to recover.
            (11) These traumatic effects on the mother can severely 
        negatively impact her ability to raise a healthy child.
            (12) Rapists may use the threat of pursuing custody or 
        parental rights to coerce survivors into not prosecuting rape, 
        or otherwise harass, intimidate, or manipulate them.

SEC. 3. GRANTS AUTHORIZED.

    The Attorney General shall make grants to States that have in place 
a law that allows the mother of any child that was conceived through 
rape to seek court-ordered termination of the parental rights of her 
rapist with regard to that child, which the court shall grant upon 
clear and convincing evidence of rape.

SEC. 4. APPLICATION.

    A State seeking a grant under this Act shall submit an application 
to the Attorney General at such time, in such manner, and containing 
such information as the Attorney General may reasonably require, 
including information about the law described in section 3.

SEC. 5. GRANT AMOUNT.

    The amount of a grant to a State under this Act shall be in an 
amount that is not greater than 10 percent of the average of the total 
amount of funding of the 3 most recent awards that the State received 
under the following grant programs:
            (1) Part T of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
        Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796gg et seq.) (commonly 
        referred to as the ``STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant 
        Program'').
            (2) Section 41601 of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 
        (42 U.S.C. 14043g) (commonly referred to as the ``Sexual 
        Assault Services Program'').

SEC. 6. GRANT TERM.

    (a) In General.--The term of a grant under this Act shall be for 
one year.
    (b) Renewal.--A State that receives a grant under this Act may 
submit an application for a renewal of such grant at such time, in such 
manner, and containing such information as the Attorney General may 
reasonably require.
    (c) Limit.--A State may not receive a grant under this Act for more 
than 4 years.

SEC. 7. USES OF FUNDS.

    A State that receives a grant under this section shall use--
            (1) 25 percent of such funds for any of the permissible 
        uses of funds under the grant program described in paragraph 
        (1) of section 5; and
            (2) 75 percent of such funds for any of the permissible 
        uses of funds under the grant program described in paragraph 
        (2) of section 5.

SEC. 8. TERMINATION DEFINED.

    (a) In General.--In this Act, the term ``termination'' means, when 
used with respect to parental rights, a complete and final termination 
of the parent's right to custody of, guardianship of, visitation with, 
access to, and inheritance from a child.
    (b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to require a State, in order to receive a grant under this 
Act, to have in place a law that terminates any obligation of a person 
who fathered a child through rape to support the child.

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of 
fiscal years 2016 through 2020.
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