Justice

Samantha Bee Loses it Over Rapist Custody Rights

April 10th 2015

Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee could not contain herself in a segment on rapist custody rights, which Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D) says allow rapists to see the children they fathered out of sexual assault.

"Right now, a woman doesn't have the right across America to terminate her rapist's parental rights," Wasserman-Schultz said in the segment.

"Every other weekend you have to meet your rapist in a Denny's parking lot and hand over your child?" Bee asked, incredulous.

Bee went on to interview Shauna Prewitt, a woman who she spent two years fighting her attacker for custody of their child, prompting her to attend law school.

"We know that about 32,000 women each year become pregnant through rape, at least a third of them go on to raise that child," Prewitt said. "So we're looking at at least 10,000 potential custody battles every year in this country."

At this point, Bee excused herself from the interview to scream outside the room and break a fake fire extinguisher protector on the wall:

There are 31 states that guarantee rapists the right to sue over custody and visitation:

Laws about pregnancy by rape

HuffPost

Prewitt first drew attention to the issue of rapist custody rights in 2012 following the nation's response to then-Rep. Todd Akin's (D-Mo.) "legitimate rape" comments.

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