Woman Attempts To Inseminate Wife With 'Turkey Baster'

A charge of rape is not being pursued against a Massachusetts woman who allegedly attempted to artificially inseminate her wife with a “turkey baster,” reports the Berkshire Eagle.

Jennifer A. Lighten has declined to pursue a charge of assault with the intent to rape against her wife Stephanie K. Lighten.

Police were dispatched to the lesbian couple's Lincoln Street apartment in Pittsfield shortly before 4:30PM on March 10.

Officers say Jennifer, 33, told them Stephanie, 26, was “all liquored up” when she attempted to use a syringe to inseminate her.

“Jennifer said that Stephanie had a 'turkey baster and her brother's semen in a sealed container'. Jennifer said she told Stephanie that she didn't want to get pregnant,” reads a report filed by Pittsfield Police Officer Kipp D. Steinman.

Officers say they recovered a large syringe with a catheter tip in its original package from the home.

Allegedly, a fight ensued when Stephanie threw Jennifer on the couch, attempted to disrobe her and threatened to impregnate her with the semen of her brother, Nicholas Lighten.

After breaking free, Jennifer locked herself in the bathroom. Stephanie broke the bathroom door open, but hurt her wrist in the process. While Stephanie tended to her injury with an ice pack, Jennifer escaped from the apartment and attempted to drive away in the couple's sport utility vehicle, police say.

Stephanie “jumped on the side of the vehicle, swung the door open and made [Jennifer] stop” the car when she attempted to drive away, Steinman told the paper.

Police confiscated the syringe, a container of semen and some aluminum foil originally used to hold the semen.

Both women claim the police have exaggerated the incident. Jennifer says she never said Stephanie was “all liquored up” and Stephanie told the paper that the police description of the insemination attempt was mostly untrue, but declined to offer her own version.

Jennifer Lighten declined to pursue a charge of assault with intent to rape because she did not believe “Stephanie was going to sexually assault her with the syringe,” Detective Thomas H. Harrington said. But Stephanie Lighten may face other possible charges.