A New Mexico mother and the son she once put up for adoption could be headed to prison together over an intimate relationship both insist they're not about to give up on.

Monica Mares, 36, and Caleb Peterson, 19, could both be headed to prison for as long as 18 months when they stand trial on incest charges later this year.

Meanwhile, mother and son have decided to fight for their relationship, taking their battle public by soliciting for funds to cover their legal expenses.

Couple Vow to Fight

"He is the love of my life and I don't want to lose him," said Mares, indicating that the couple plans to mount an overall challenge to the state's Genetic Sexual Attraction (GSA) laws that make such unions illegal.

"My kids love him, my whole family does," she added. "Nothing can come between us not courts, or jail, nothing. "I have to be with him. When I get out of prison I will move out of Clovis to a state that allows us to be together."

Incest is a crime in all 50 states, but the parameters of the law vary from state to state in terms of the punishment that is enforced. A mother of nine, Mares insists she is even willing to give up her right to see and spend time with her other children in order to be with Peterson.

Banned From Interacting

Currently, the two are banned by the courts from spending any time together. They began their relationship in late 2015 after Mares saw her son for the first time in more than 18 years.

"The first time I met my son in person I was so happy and excited I gave him a big hug," she said. "I went to go pick him up at his dad's house in Texas."

According to Mares, the encounter was essentially a case of love at first sight. "It felt like I met somebody new in my life and I fell in love with him," she added.

For a while, the two lived together in Mares' mobile home, but things changed after neighbors informed police earlier this year. The two were eventually slapped with felony charges and now face the prospect of a September trial.

"It is every bit worth it," said Mares, who is also banned from seeing her other children. "If they lock me up for love then they lock me up. There is no way anybody could pull us apart."

As a sign of his love and commitment, Peterson recently left a rose for Mares on the bench at the park where the two both openly shared their feelings for one another. He insists all the suffering has not moved him to change the way that he feels.

"Sometimes the easy way isn't the best way,' he said. "Sometimes we have to make that life decision that's going to change and affect everything but when it comes down to it, it's worth it."

Supporters of the couple are assisting them in raising funds, hoping to ultimately be able to hire a high profile attorney to defend the case they insist they're willing to take all the way to the Supreme Court.

"This whole case is about whether I have the right to love somebody and I sure as hell have the right to love Monica," said Peterson. "You can't tell me who to love, who not to love."

Related