Rapist Won’t Get Rights to 14-Year-Old Victim’s Son

(CN) - An Arkansas rapist cannot claim parental rights to the son conceived when he attacked a 14-year-old girl, the state's appeals court ruled.

Joseph Allen Henry had claimed the baby was not a product of rape but a "miracle child," conceived when his then girlfriend's 14-year-old daughter impregnated herself with Henry's semen using an eyedropper.

He also claimed that he is not in position to harm the child since he is in prison for raping the baby's mother.

Henry had appealed to the Arkansas Court of Appeals after the Benton County Circuit Court granted a petition to terminate Henry's parental rights.

The man's lawyer had withdrawn because he felt Henry's appeal was without merit, but Henry continued pro se.

Chief Judge Larry Vaught, writing on behalf of a three-judge panel, rejected Henry's eyedropper theory and affirmed the lower court's decision.

"He fails to raise any argument that would support reversing the trial court's decision to terminate his parental rights," Vaught wrote.

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