You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Oklahoma Court Rules Oral Sex with Unconscious Person is Not Rape

HeadlineApr 28, 2016

Meanwhile, an Oklahoma appeals court has sparked controversy after ruling that having oral sex with someone who is unconscious from drinking does not constitute rape. The ruling stems from a case in which a 17-year-old boy is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl who had passed out from drinking. The court ruled that existing Oklahoma law did not specifically name incapacitation due to intoxication in its definition of forcible oral sodomy. In response, Michelle Anderson, dean of the City University of New York School of Law, called on Oklahoma to change the statute, which she said “creates a huge loophole for sexual abuse that makes no sense.”

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top