Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

KY legislator files rape victim protection law

State Rep. Dennis Keene (D-Wilder) filed a bill in the Kentucky General Assembly Tuesday which he says will close a loophole that grants parental and visitation rights to convicted rapists if they seek those rights.

Kentucky is one of 34 states that has no protection for rape victims who become mothers as a result of the rape, Keene said.

Keene said he found out that Kentucky had no such law last summer when he read about a Massachusetts case of a 14-year-old rape victim dealing with this issue in the courts.  

"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 said in a written statement.

Howard Wilkinson is in his 50th year of covering politics on the local, state and national levels.