Carcano decided to tell her story publicly for the first time after reading here about the Peace Corps Equity Act, introduced by Sen. Frank Lautenberg last week, which would modify the current policy by extending Peace Corps health coverage to abortions in case of rape. Carcano, who majored in human biology at the University of Texas and is now working as a research assistant on HIV/AIDS, says she wasn't particularly educated about the politics of abortion. But then, in the months after her ordeal, the headlines were full of politicians talking about abortion, "legitimate rape" and doubting rape victims could even become pregnant. "I came back to my country and I felt like other Americans were against me or against my choices," she says.

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Imagine he wanted – and legally had the right to be – that child's father. It's a very real scenario, all across America. But in one state, that may soon be changing.

As a riveting CNN story last summer, at the height of "legitimate rape" fever, illuminated, a stunning majority of states – 31 of them – offer some form of visitation and custody rights for men who impregnate their rape victims. And it's not just the threat of having to co-parent with one's assailant that's a nightmare for many victims -- it's the ugly opportunism it inspires. As attorney Shauna Prewitt, whose daughter was the product of a sexual assault, wrote back then, "When no law prohibits a rapist from exercising these rights, a woman may feel forced to bargain away her legal rights to a criminal trial in exchange for the rapist dropping the bid to have access to her child." A baby can become a bargaining chip.

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The sobering prevalence of sexual assault in the armed services and the failures of military leadership to hold responsible parties accountable (only 10 percent of sexual assaults reported in 2011 went to trial) have created a military culture that is increasingly dangerous for female service members.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has offered two Senate proposals to begin the process of reform in American military culture. The first measure, introduced last week, will provide increased access to reproductive health care to female service members. The second, set to be introduced next month, intends to reform the way the military handles sexual assault cases.

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"The safety and security of Peace Corps Volunteers is our highest priority. Over the past few years, we’ve put in place a number of new, significant practices and safeguards to reduce the risks for Volunteers and ensure victims of crime receive compassionate and effective support.

The Peace Corps supports Senator Lautenberg’s bill and the President’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget, which extends the same rights and protections to female Peace Corps Volunteers as many of their federal colleagues by applying exceptions on abortion restrictions as outlined in the Hyde Amendment."

As Mary Kate Shannon waited to find out if she was pregnant after being raped for the second time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru, the healthcare coordinator told her her options were limited. "If I were pregnant, the Peace Corps could not pay for the abortion due to some kind of federal law," Shannon recalled in an interview with Salon. They would, however, pay for parenting classes.

"I felt betrayed," Shannon said. "I felt like it was a decision that was going to be made for me. I wasn't in a place financially where I felt like I could pay for it."

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Horrific sexual assaults in the United States, India, South Africa and elsewhere have brought global violence against women into stark relief, and Tutu, joined by education nonprofit head Jacob Lief and author, activist and rape survivor Sohaila Abdulali, views stopping it as more than just the work of governments and law enforcement. Ending rape culture, they say, is also "family work," a conversation that must be had around the dinner table if its message is ever going to take hold:

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With the grand jury case looming next week, search warrants have been executed against Steubenville High School and the offices of the local school board in order to determine if other laws were broken in connection with the rape. Under particular scrutiny is Steubenville football coach Reno Saccoccia, who, evidence suggets, knew about the rape early on, but didn’t report the crime to school administrators or local police, as is required by Ohio law. Saccoccia's contract with the school was renewed on Monday.

"What I hope people will believe when we're done is that we did everything we could to find the truth and that justice was done," DeWine told the Associated Press. "What you're seeing today is just part of that effort."

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This new emphasis is stated clearly in the introduction, as well as in amended protocol throughout the guide:

We know that effective collection of evidence is of paramount importance to successfully prosecuting sex offenders. Just as critical is performing sexual assault forensic exams in a sensitive, dignified, and victim-centered manner. For individuals who experience this horrendous crime, having a positive experience with the criminal justice and health care systems can contribute greatly to their overall healing.

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As reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education:

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The girl was in critical condition when she was transferred Thursday from a local hospital to the largest government-run hospital in the country. But D.K. Sharma, medical superintendent of the state-run hospital in New Delhi where the girl was being treated, said Sunday that she was responding well to treatment and that her condition had stabilized.

Police say the girl went missing April 15 and was found two days later by neighbors who heard her crying in a locked room in the same New Delhi building where she lives with her family. The girl was alone when she was found, having been left for dead by the man following the brutal attack, police say.

A 24-year-old man was arrested Saturday in the eastern state of Bihar, about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from New Delhi. After being flown to New Delhi, he was in custody Sunday and was being questioned, police said.

The attack came four months after the fatal gang rape of a woman on a New Delhi bus sparked outrage across India about the treatment of women in the country.

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Over the next week, she pieced together one horrifying detail after another. She went online and tried to confront the three boys she had known since junior high who she believed had done it.

At school, she saw a group of students huddled around a cellphone and realized that at least one humiliating photo of her was circulating.

"I have a reputation for a night I don't even remember and the whole school knows," she wrote in one Facebook message to a friend.

"I cried when I found out what they did," she wrote in another.

Eight days after the attack, she called and asked her mother to pick her up at school. She said she couldn't deal with it anymore but would not say what was wrong.

And then she hanged herself.

The Pott family disclosed the new details of the ordeal at an emotional news conference Monday in San Jose, discussing painful details of what their daughter was put through and demanding that three 16-year-old boys arrested eight months after the assault be tried as adults — a move that would be highly unlikely under California law.

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Before I am an artist, I am a father, a son, and a brother to some of the most cherished women in the world. So for me to suggest in any way that harm and violation be brought to a woman is one of my biggest mistakes and regrets. As an artist, one of the most liberating things is being able to paint pictures with my words. But with that comes a great responsibility. And most recently, my choice of words was not only offensive, it does not reflect my true heart. And for this, I apologize. To every woman that has felt the sting of abuse, I apologize. I recognize that as an artist I have a voice and with that, the power of influence. To the young men who listen to my music, please know that using a substance to rob a woman of her right to make a choice is not only a crime, it’s wrong and I do not encourage it. To my fans, I also apologize if I have disappointed you. I can only hope that this sparks a healthy dialogue and that I can contribute to it.

The disputed lyrics come from Rocko’s song “U.O.E.N.O,” in which Ross raps: “Put Molly all up in her champagne, she ain’t even know it, I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain’t even know it.”

Ross's apology follows a half-apology he issued on Twitter in which he said, "I dont condone rape. Apologies for the lyric interpreted as rape.”

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As the Daily Beast reports, Anonymous has confirmed the identities of two of the four alleged suspects in the Canada rape case, but has no plans to move forward until they can verify their information:

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At issue were the lyrics to the new track "U.O.E.N.O." – in which Ross brags that "Put Molly all in her champagne. She ain't even know it. I took her home and I enjoy that. She ain't even know it." ("Molly" is slang for Ecstasy, non-partiers.)

The song has been scrutinized ever since writer Rosa Clemente noted the "problematic" line last month on her YouTube channel. Soon after, Ross told New Orleans radio station Q 93.3, "I would never use the term 'rape' in my records and as far as my camp … Nobody condones that. So I just wanted to reach out to all my queens that’s on my timeline, all the sexy ladies, the beautiful ladies that have been reaching out to me with the misunderstanding: We don’t condone rape, and I’m not with that. I want to make sure this is clear, that woman is the most precious gift known to man. It was a misunderstanding with a lyric, a misinterpretation where the term rape wasn't used."

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In Rocko's song "U.O.E.N.O," Ross raps: "Put Molly all up in her champagne, she ain't even know it, I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain't even know it."

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Isn't it time we all heard what those impacted so fiercely and directly by rape and bullying have to say? Isn't it time we heard from high school students themselves?

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Parsons' suicide, which her mother argues was the result of harassment following her daughter's alleged rape by four teenaged schoolmates, gained national attention this week amid claims that the Canadian justice system failed to properly investigate the incident.

Nova Scotia’s Justice Department announced Tuesday that they plan to review Parsons' case.

Anonymous' statement in full:

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“She went with a friend to another’s home. In that home, she was raped by four young boys. One of those boys took a photo of her being raped and decided it would be fun to distribute the photo to everyone in Rehtaeh’s school and community, where it quickly went viral. Because the boys already had a “slut” story, the victim of the rape Rehtaeh was considered a slut,” Parsons' mother, Leah, wrote in a statement on Monday.

After the photo went viral, Rehtaeh was ostracized by her classmates and regularly received abusive text messages alluding to the assault, her mother explained in an interview with the Chronicle Herald:

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Thursday's apology — in the form of a tweet — came the same day a women's group, UltraViolet, planned a protest outside of one of his sponsors, Reebok, in Manhattan.

In Rocko's song "U.O.E.N.O," Ross raps about giving a woman the drug MDMA, known as Molly, and having his way with her. The song was released in January but just recently began getting widespread notice.

Although last week Ross said his lyrics were misinterpreted, he tweeted Thursday that he doesn't condone rape and apologized for lyrics that were "interpreted as rape."

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Indian President Pranab Mukherjee OK'd the new Anti-Rape Bill on April 3, which will include new punishments for stalking and voyeurism and introduce life sentences and even the death penalty for rape crimes.

The definition of rape will be expanded, and an absence of physical struggle will no longer translate into consent, notes a BBC rundown of the changes.

Perpetrators of acid attacks — sadly common crimes in India — will be hit with a mandatory 10-year sentence, and victims of sexual violence will be granted the right to self defense, according to the Times of India.

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The assault took place over a six-hour period near Copacabana, during which the woman's attackers beat her and her male companion with metal bars and repeatedly raped the young woman.

As The New York Times reports:

The assault on the American woman here, police investigators said, began early Saturday, just after midnight, when the attackers forced other passengers out of the van, which picks up passengers along the street and can seat about a dozen people. The woman was raped by all three men, who took turns driving the vehicle, the police said. “It was a gang rape,” said Jayme da Costa Rosa Neto, a police official investigating the attack.

After the couple were freed about 6 a.m. Saturday and left at a bus station, the woman was taken to two public hospitals, Miguel Couto and Rocha Maia, for treatment including the administering of a cocktail of drugs containing the morning-after pill, to prevent pregnancy, and other medications to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

The police said that the American victim had severe swelling around her nose, and that her companion, 23, had been hit in the area around one of his eyes. The woman left Brazil after registering the crime and undergoing preliminary medical treatment, while her companion remained here, where he is cooperating with the police, said Alexandre Braga, a senior police investigator with Rio’s special police unit for crimes involving tourists.

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