SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California lawmakers moved to make the state the first to outlaw “stealthing,” which is removing a condom without permission during intercourse.
Legislators sent Gov. Gavin Newsom a bill on Tuesday adding the act to the state’s civil definition of sexual battery. It makes it illegal to remove the condom without obtaining verbal consent.
But it doesn’t change the criminal code. Instead, it would amend the civil code so that a victim could sue the perpetrator for damages, including punitive damages.
Democratic Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia has been pushing for the legislation since 2017, when a Yale University study said acts of stealthing were increasing against both women and gay men. Her original bill attempted to make it a crime.
But legislative analysts said at the time that the act could already be considered misdemeanor sexual battery, even if it isn’t specifically referenced in the criminal code. But the analysts said it is rarely prosecuted, if only because of the difficulty in proving that a perpetrator acted intentionally instead of accidently.
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