re: #153 Targetpractice

Indeed, the county and state have a financial interest in this ruling, since the cash-strapped Republican majority is looking for any way they can to pass the buck. We’ve heard a similar thinking in other states, forcing single mothers to name the father so he could be DNA tested and (if the test proved positive) saddled with child support payments to get the mother off welfare.

This county just put it into practice, and now will argue in the courts that it doesn’t matter how the kid was conceived, the rapist has an obligation to provide for this child and thus rights as a father. That way the state can toss her off the welfare rolls and leave her to expect child support payments from a deadbeat who probably can’t hold a job due to being a sexual predator.

IIRC, last year Illinois tried to pass a law that forces single moms to name names if they apply for food stamps or any other safety net benefit. Doesn’t matter if she was impregnated by an unknown rapist…if she can’t/won’t name someone as the father, she’s SoL and on her own. Oh, and no birth certificate for the child.
Far as I know, the proposed legislation is in limbo for now.