Fight to repeal marital rape exception succeeds in this state because of 1 woman's efforts
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Minnesota has lifted an exception that protected some people accused of raping their spouses, thanks to the lobbying efforts of a woman who learned that her own spouse couldn’t be prosecuted for sexually assaulting her while she was unconscious.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed the bill last week, report NPR, the Associated Press and ABC News. The New York Times has a previous profile of Jenny Teeson, the woman who fought to change the law.
All 50 states had made spousal rape illegal by 1993, but in many states, exemptions narrow the circumstances when prosecutions are allowed. Minnesota had been one of the states with exceptions. It allowed prosecutions for marital rapes only when the couple lived apart and one party had filed for legal separation.
That law didn’t protect Teeson, who says she discovered four videos of her husband raping her while she was unconscious. In one video, the couple’s son is lying next to Teeson. She thinks she was unconscious because her husband had drugged her.
Teeson took the videos to prosecutors, who said they couldn’t bring sexual assault charges. Teeson’s husband was convicted of invasion of privacy and was sentenced to 45 days in jail. He served less than 30 days.
A majority of states still have some kinds of exemptions that impede prosecution of marital rapes, according to AEquitas, a nonprofit resource for prosecutors in cases of gender-based violence.
Exemptions generally fall into three categories, according to ABC News. They bar prosecutions for statutory rape when the partners are married or have a pre-existing relationship; bar spousal rape prosecutions based on inability to consent because of circumstances that include mental impairment or intoxication; and bar spousal rape prosecutions when one spouse has guardianship power over the other.
Some lawmakers in other states also are considering changes. In Ohio, proponents of change want to repeal a marital exemption that allows prosecutions for marital rapes only if they are the product of force or threat of force. They plan to introduce a bill this month after two earlier attempts to change the law failed.
In Maryland, an attempt to eliminate all marital rape exemptions failed in March.
