Under North Carolina law, women can't revoke consent once vaginal intercourse has begun. In the 1979 decision State v. Way, North Carolina's Supreme Court said that although sexual consent can be withdrawn, "this concept ordinarily applies...to those situations in which there is evidence of more than one act of intercourse." Based on that logic, they continued, "if the actual penetration is accomplished with the woman's consent, the accused is not guilty of rape."
Essentially, if a woman agrees to have vaginal intercourse with a man and then decides partway through that she no longer wants to, her partner can continue forcing sex on her until he decides he's finished. In other words, he's legally allowed to sexually assault her—and she can't do anything about it.
Thankfully, one North Carolina state senator is trying to change this archaic and horrific loophole. Jeff Jackson has proposed Senate Bill 553, which says that anyone who "continues the act of vaginal intercourse after consent is withdrawn" has committed rape. It's that simple. "Legislators are hearing more and more about women who have been raped and are being denied justice because of this crazy loophole," Jackson told The Fayetteville Observer. "North Carolina is the only state in the United States where no doesn’t mean no."
SB 553 obviously has some heteronormative limitations—and it would be wrong for me to pretend that it doesn't. Sexual assaults aren't always perpetrated by men against women, and they don't always involve forced vaginal intercourse. Everyone—no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation or that of their assaulter—deserves legal protection from rape and rape-adjacent behaviors. But worth noting: 321,500 Americans are sexually assaulted each year, and 90 percent (289,350) of them are women, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). While this bill isn't as inclusive as it could be, it's an undeniable step in the right direction.
Right now SB 553 is just a bill, and it won't become law until it passes through the state Senate, state House, and governor's office. If you live in North Carolina, there's still time to make your voice heard. Reach out to North Carolina state senators and representatives to let them know your thoughts on current consent loophole, and click here to read SB 553 in full.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673). More resources are available online from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
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