An interesting child support case has recently arisen that may raise a few eyebrows among Pittsburgh readers. The case involves a teenage father who says that he was the victim of a rape when he had sex with his 18-year-old girlfriend. During the encounter, a baby was conceived. In this two-part post, we will discuss the child support dispute that has since ensued. First, we will describe the case from the father’s point of view.
The couple dated off and on for three years. The two met in August 2003 when they were both in high school. The pair immediately became inseparable. The couple discussed marriage and having children. Their first sexual encounter occurred when they were both 17. During that year, the girl did get pregnant but ended up in the hospital with a miscarriage. Her boyfriend was by her side.
According to his side of the story, he says that after the miscarriage, he realized that he did not want to be a father so he decided to avoid having further sex with his girlfriend. Shortly after the miscarriage, however, the two did have sex again, and once again conceived a child. A paternity test confirms that the young man is the father of the child.
The young man claims that his girlfriend forced him to have sex with her. He says he clearly told her no several times. He also says he tried to push her off of him and escape from the car. The boy says he did call the Sherriff’s Office a few weeks later but nothing ever came from his report of the incident. According to the boy’s mother and father, the girlfriend admitted to forcing him to have sex with her.
Unfortunately, there are no laws governing child support when a woman rapes a man. In previous cases of underage fathers contesting child support, the fathers have said that it is not fair for them to have to pay child support because they were the victims of a crime.
In our next post, we will describe the mother’s point of view and relate what a court recently decided as to whether the boy is required to pay child support for the son he says he never wanted.
Source: St. Petersburg Times, “He says he said no to sex, now says no to child support,” Leonora LaPeter Anton, July 31, 2011.