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- Title
Congratulations! Your Umbilical Cord is Now State Property: A Comparative Analysis of Mississippi's Cord Blood Law and the Fight Against Teen Pregnancy in the United States.
- Authors
Espiritu, Earl Anthony
- Abstract
According to a recent amendment made to the Mississippi Child Protection Act of 2012, if a girl younger than sixteen years of age gives birth to a child and refuses to name the father, physicians are required to collect blood from the umbilical cord and submit the sample to law enforcement for the purpose of DNA testing as a means of identifying perpetrators of statutory rape. Mississippi is the first state to enact a law authorizing the collection of umbilical cord blood to determine paternity. The law, which took effect on July 1, 2013, was enacted as a response to Mississippi's teen pregnancy problem. Governor Philip Bryant noted that the DNA tests could lead to the prosecution of grown men who have engaged in sexual intercourse with underage girls. Critics, however, argue that the law invades the medical privacy of the mother and father. Furthermore, the language of the statute leaves several questions unanswered, such as, how does the Mississippi Legislature expect one of the poorest states in the country to fund all those DNA tests? Nevertheless, while the overall intent of the law--to identify perpetrators of statutory rape--does have its merits, the lack of clarity in certain areas leaves many to wonder whether such a policy will even serve its intended purpose of reducing the teen pregnancy rate.
- Subjects
UNITED States; UMBILICAL cord; CORD blood; TEENAGE pregnancy; DNA analysis; MISSISSIPPI. Legislature; STATUTORY rape; BRYANT, Phil, 1954-; LAW; RAPE laws
- Publication
New England Journal on Criminal & Civil Confinement, 2015, Vol 41, Issue 1, p183
- ISSN
0740-8994
- Publication type
Article