An Act protecting survivors of rape and their children

This Massachusetts bill restricts courts from granting visitation or custody rights to parents convicted of specific sexual offenses against a child conceived during the rape. Under the new rules, a perpetrator cannot obtain these rights unless the mother explicitly consents and a judge determines the arrangement is in the child's best interests. The law clarifies that a lack of criminal conviction does not prove the rape did not happen and ensures that denying custody does not stop the father from paying child support or the child from inheriting from him.