In some ways I think it's a side effect of the abortion debate. Quite often states would carve out exceptions in their laws for rape and many times the debate would circle around this idea that children that are the victims of a crime should retain access to abortion.

Now that anti-abortion folks have been successful in many states they are simply going against the exceptions in the law. Which leads to this messed up bullshit.

Then of course there is the current Trump-Epstein effect too

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window