When Your Rapist Demands Custody
Mother Jones|September/October 2019
More states are banning abortion without exceptions for rape. But what happens to women who must carry their pregnancies to term?
Michaela Haas
When Your Rapist Demands Custody

BEFORE HER SON began school last year, Tiffany Gordon showed his father’s mugshot to school administrators. “If you see this guy, you have to call the police,” she told them.

Ten years earlier, when Tiffany was 12, a young man she knew invited her, her sister, and a friend on a late-night car ride. “I thought we would be going to McDonald’s,” Tiffany recalls. Instead, 18-year-old Christopher Mirasolo raped Tiffany and took the girls to an abandoned house in eastern Michigan.

When the hiding place was discovered, it marked the end of one nightmare—and the beginning of another. A month later, Tiffany realized she was pregnant. A prosecutor filed charges against Mirasolo, who might have faced a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life for impregnating a minor if he had not pleaded guilty to attempted rape, which resulted in a prison sentence of just two years. A judge let him out less than a year later. Not long after, Mirasolo raped another young girl and was sentenced to 5 to 15 years behind bars.

Tiffany’s parents supported her decision to keep the baby. Other family members urged her to consider an abortion. But she was adamant: “My son was innocent,” Tiffany, now 23, remembers telling her family.

She dropped out of school and stayed afloat working odd jobs. For almost nine years, she didn’t speak about the assault and tried to suppress the memories—until 2017, when she applied for state assistance. Without looking into the circumstances of how she became pregnant, county probate judge Gregory S. Ross granted Mirasolo joint custody and ordered Tiffany to live within 100 miles of him. Making matters worse, Ross disclosed Tiffany’s address to Mirasolo and ordered that his name be added to her son’s birth certificate, according to her lawyer, Rebecca Kiessling.

Esta historia es de la edición September/October 2019 de Mother Jones.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición September/October 2019 de Mother Jones.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE MOTHER JONESVer todo
Food + Health / Global Warning - Why Project 2025 is an environmental catastrophe in the making
Mother Jones

Food + Health / Global Warning - Why Project 2025 is an environmental catastrophe in the making

When President Joe Biden took office, Democrats held a slim majority in the House of Representatives and a single-vote edge in the Senate. Despite the monumental odds, he has presided over the most productive presidential term for climate action in American history. Under Biden’s direction, the federal government took up the arduous task of incorporating climate considerations into scores of administrative operations and procedures. The epa cracked down on superpollutants and issued stricter emissions regulations for passenger vehicles. The Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest climate spending bill Congress has ever passed, brings the nation closer to its goal of slashing carbon emissions in half by 2030.

time-read
5 minutos  |
November/December 2024
Trumpnesia - To get a second chance, Trump needs voters to forget his disastrous presidency.
Mother Jones

Trumpnesia - To get a second chance, Trump needs voters to forget his disastrous presidency.

One of the most oft-quoted sentences ever penned by a philosopher is George Santayana’s observation that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In 2024, this aphorism is practically a campaign slogan. Donald Trump, seeking to become the first former president since Grover Cleveland to return to the White House after being voted out of the job, has waged war on remembrance. In fact, he’s depending on tens of millions of voters forgetting the recent past. This election is an experiment in how powerful a memory hole can be.

time-read
6 minutos  |
November/December 2024
WHEN IN DROUGHT
Mother Jones

WHEN IN DROUGHT

This obscure yet adaptable grain could be a healthy staple for a warming planet.

time-read
3 minutos  |
November/December 2024
BAD HABITS
Mother Jones

BAD HABITS

A spate of recent horror movies recycle tired tropes about nuns-and reveal society's ongoing discomfort with independent women.

time-read
9 minutos  |
November/December 2024
Taking the Fifth For a glimpse of the Supreme Court after a second Trump term, look at the radical circuit court that's already driving America to the right.
Mother Jones

Taking the Fifth For a glimpse of the Supreme Court after a second Trump term, look at the radical circuit court that's already driving America to the right.

Imagine obamacare is dead and millions of Americans have lost health coverage.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
November/December 2024
THE ARCHITECT
Mother Jones

THE ARCHITECT

TRUMP WANTS TO BE KING. RUSS VOUGHT HAS A PLAN TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
November/December 2024
Losing Faith
Mother Jones

Losing Faith

As an evangelical leader, I enticed lawmakers and federal judges to adopt a conservative Christian agenda. Donald Trump’s rise proved how wrong I was.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
November/December 2024
GOD'S COUNTRY
Mother Jones

GOD'S COUNTRY

These Christian nationalists have a plan to take over Americafrom small towns to the highest court in the land.

time-read
10+ minutos  |
November/December 2024
IN THE NAME OF THE MOTHER
Mother Jones

IN THE NAME OF THE MOTHER

How Shyamala Gopalan Harris raised a presidential contender

time-read
6 minutos  |
November/December 2024
KILL THE MESSENGER
Mother Jones

KILL THE MESSENGER

The anti-disinformation field is retreating under attack.

time-read
6 minutos  |
November/December 2024