Quebec tables bill to protect rights of children born of sexual assault

The Quebec government has tabled a bill that would make it illegal for someone who commits sexual assault to claim parental rights if the rape produces a child.

Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette tabled Bill 12 on Thursday, permitting a mother who is the victim of sexual assault to refuse parental rights to her aggressor, or to have them revoked.

The bill would also require the aggressor to meet certain needs of the child and to compensate the mother.

It would also permit a child born of a sexual assault to be eligible to claim inheritance after the aggressor dies.

Jolin-Barrette told a news conference Thursday he was inspired to draft the bill by the case of a young woman whose story was reported in La Presse last year, and who was unsuccessful in stopping her attacker from being declared the father of the baby.

Quebec's Justice Department says about 170 children every year in the province are born as a result of a sexual assault.