Removing a condom without consent during intercourse will soon qualify as sexual battery in California.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed into law Assembly Bill 453, introduced by Democratic Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, that prohibits "stealthing" under the state’s civil code. California is now the first U.S. state to outlaw removing condoms without verbal consent.
Garcia first introduced stealthing legislation in 2017, seeking to list the act under state law as a form of rape. That same year, a Yale University study indicated male partners removing condoms without consent was increasingly common in sexual encounters with women and men.
The bill passed without opposition in the State Assembly and Senate before heading to Newsom’s desk for signature.
"This law is the first of its kind in the nation, but I urge other states to follow in California’s direction and make it clear that stealthing is not just immoral but illegal," Garcia told the Associated Press on Thursday.
With "stealthing" part of the state’s civil definition of sexual battery, assailants are liable to be sued for damages. Alexandra Brodsky, one of the authors of the 2017 Yale study, wrote on Thursday that she was “particularly glad” to see stealthing become a civil offense rather than a criminal one.
Brodsky, in a piece for Refinery29, said survivors’ mistrust of police and prosecutors is common, and that civil suits can allow them to address their material needs, often the “biggest obstacle to healing and rebuilding their lives.”
"Civil suits also provide victims with control, which can be particularly meaningful in the wake of sexual violence," Brodsky wrote. "The vast majority of sexual assaults reported to the police never result in a prosecution, even where the evidence is strong and the survivor wants the case to move forward."
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