staturory rape

Wow! Someone who actually uses REASON instead of knee-jerk, bandwagon emotional reactions!!!

I salute you!

I have children as well and feel the same way.

 

I DO! Autumn, a 19 year old is MUCH different than a 15 year old. It isn't the age difference I have a problem with, (My sister is married to a man who is 10 years older than her, but she was nearly 18 when they met) it is the fact that 15 year olds just don't have the maturity to make a decision like sex, in most cases. Also, a man this age, (30) could easily (if he wanted to) manipulate a young girl.

By 19, your Ego is more developed and you are able to make decisions about sex and love better. Fifteen, in my opinion (and having two girls who have been 15) is just TOO young.

Autumn, you and I usually agree on things, (and I think we agree with the basic idea of doctor patient privelege here) but "pleasure" especially sexually, is not something I am thinking about when I am parenting my young teen children.

I don't think that medical records should be opened, if the girl doesn't want to press charges, because I think that the doctor patient relationship should not be tampered with, and I don't want Choice to be dealt a blow. But that doesn't mean that I think a 15 year old girl has any business with a 30 year old man. In a more realistic view, what on earth would they have in common?

JMO.

 

I'm a 17 year old from Kansas who happens to be dating a 21 year old. This issue is obviously one I'm pretty close to, seeing as how it could easily affect my relationship. We met and started dating because of a tragedy both of us were close to. I'm fairly mature for my age, and Kevin is well... he doesn't always act like he's 21 lol. We just fit well together. This case is really upsetting to me because of the number of girls I know that are in the same situation as me. Most girls at my high school date older guys, a lot of whom are legally adults by the time the relationship gets "serious." It bothers me that these guys, most of whom really do have good intentions, could easily get in trouble should their girlfriends go to Planned Parenthood instead of their family doctors for birth control. If you ask me, no one should get punished for being responsible, and that's exactly what could happen. I know that Phil Kline is just trying to make sure young girls aren't in situations they shouldn't be in, but I see a big difference between a 13 year old having sex with a 20 year old and a 16 or 17 year old making the same decision. Really, I feel like it's just a violation of a young womans rights and the result of this could be much much worse than the current reasoning given for such action. If girls are too scared to get their boyfriends in trouble, then they wont use protection and it'll just end in more pregnancies and STDs. And really, who wants that?

 

A) From working within the criminal justice system, I have to say you'd be surprised how many "rapists" are prosecuted under the statutory rape laws. People who had sex with the full consent of their partners and are prosecuted also have to register under current sex offender statutes same as every degenerate who actually molests children.

B) In cases where adults are convicted of sexual contact with children under 10, the charge and penalty are much tougher than standard statutory rape laws, and rightfully so. You seem to be saying that it would be fine for anyone 11 years or older to make their own decisions about sex? Doesn't seem to fit with what else you've said, probably something got lost in translation.

 

I was talking about the age difference. I initially put 10 years, then I edited it to 5. In other words, unless both people at least 18 years old, their ages should be less than 5 years apart.

 

We have an over-funded, over-staffed, over-mandated federal goverment.
The situation described here is a microism of a larger picture.
States rights are being trampled.
One reason to support tax cuts is to reduce the size of agencies looking to stay busy, checking up on you.

 

Thats bullshit, planned parenthood can't be an ethic. Who ever thought of that is a dumbass.

 

I personally believe that the laws for statutory rape should be changed slightly, but that stutory rape should be considered totally illegal. I say this in response to some of the posts I've seen in this thread. For example, a 20 year old man does know that he is taking advantage of the immaturity and naiveness of a 13 year old girl. However, it IS different when it is a 16 year old and say, a 19/20 year old. In the state I live in, I remember hearing somewhere that it is illegal for a person who is 16 and older to sleep with someone younger than 16. I do NOT know if this is true, but I do know that there are laws that are very similar to this in other states. These "16 and older" type of laws should be taken away, as they *have* put people in jail and on sex offenders list because of irate ex-girlfriends and overly-concerned mothers.

Now, about planned parenthood. I agree with what many other people have said. If planned parenthood was to go to the authorities, the girls would not continue to come to them for help/things they needed.

 

OK, so what exactly are these authorities expecting to gain from accessing Planned Parenthood records, aside from terrorizing young teens? I, for one, never provided any specific details (name, age, etc.) to the PP nurse when I visited as a 14/15 year old. So they get some evidence that a 12 year old has had sex -- what does that do for the prosecutor without some identification of the sexual partner? If you go beating down that 12 year old's door, asking who she had sex with, what on earth makes you expect to get an honest answer, unless you basically terrorize her?

If I had any reason to believe that these measures would actually do what the authorities claim they want to do, I would support them. If I believed for one second that these measures would do more good than harm (as others have mentioned, it would only prevent these young girls from seeking medical care, such as pap smears and STD tests), I would support them.

Unfortunately, these authorities are either delusional or duplicitous.

 

The man I lost my virginity to was 20 and I was 16 (he's my best friend). All I remember about the time was being so afraid that when my parents found out that they would cart him off to jail. I went to Planned Parenthood to get assistance in getting birth control(he came with me for support) and the woman that we talked to spent an hour explaining that him and I getting together was wrong and that we would both go to hell for disobeying the law. She brought me into a seperate room and lectured me on the fact that he didn't really love me, so in God's eyes it was wrong. She went into detail about how sex is something special meant only to share with the person you're going to marry. WTF! Why would Planned Parenthood hire someone like that!?!

Correct me if I'm wrong but these people are supposed to help scared teenagers and young adults that need help, not scare them even further. For some people PP is there only chance to get that help and advice. Kids should get that help without worrying about what the law says.

 

From what I understand from the article, several prosecuters are requesting ALL records for girls under 14 years old who have visited a Planned Parenthood Clinic. I suspect that if individual records are requested by supoena of the court, when suffiecent evidence of crime is present, Planned Parenthood complies with the request. It is a ENTIRELY different to request records for a complete age group. If Planned Parenthood is required to report all sexual activities of an age group to the government, it most certaintly be a barrier to medical care. It is imperative that the trust between patients and ANY professionals be maintained, with very few, extreme conditions.

Doctors went to school to practice medicine. Police Officers are trained to fight crime. Detectives are trained to investigate crime. Doctors and their staff should not be required to be the sex police.

I sell narcotics all day long, every day, in a pharmacy. Records are obviously maintained of the sale. For cases of drug diversion, the police, DEA, or ATF present very specific supoena's for records. I could not provide them with a list of every patient who has received a narcotic. Each indiviual being investigated must be listed. This IS to maintain privacy. We know that drug diversion occurs, but that does not mean we can go and investigate EVERY individual filling a prescription. That would not constitute "sufficient evidence that a crime has occured." Neither does visiting a planned parenthood.

 

Perhaps we should also press charges against every patient of every methadone clinic. A drug screen must show evidence of opiate intoxication prior to treatment in a methadone program. One could reasonably assume that each of these patients has commited at least one crime, drug possesion. . .

I hope my sarcasm is obvious. I really hope the American public see's the danger in automatically using records of medical care and/or treatment as evidence for legal prosecution.

 

i think that with statutory rape cases, they leave it open for the parent to judge, knowing their child's maturity level. i became sexually active at 14, with a 14 year old. my parents found out, judged me to be "responsible enough" and left it alone. i suffered no pain or consequences of it.

 

I couldn't agree with you more. What we need to concentrate on is not the age of consent but the capability of consent and sexual awareness (i.e. Does the young person understand what is involved in such activity and know what percautions to take, and so forth?). You've stated your case well. It's high time that we treat teenagers like the young adults that they are, not children! We must also understand that adulthood doesn't hit people like a magic bullet at the age of eighteen or whatever. Growth is an ongoing process.

 

I've stated this elsewhere, but will re-state it. In certain cultures, it was not uncommon for the adults of the community to introduce the younger people to sexual activity. An example of which can be found at: http://www.libchrist.com/bible/child.html
I think that there is often a double standard that if a teenaged boy has an affair with an older woman he is seen as a "superstud" or what ever and is highly revered by his peers. It's just the opposite if an adult male has a similar relationship with a teenaged female.

Both you and Autumn show a great deal of wisdom and enlightenment!

Regarding your first sentence, this is true, but in some instances the state may get involved even without parental involvement. I think many parents even today dread that their teenaged kid(s) might be sexually active and would press charges against the 'perpetrator'-sometimes to save the family's 'reputation', other times perhaps because they deny that their kids are sexual. The puritanical attitudes of yore continue to this day, unfortunately.

You are lucky that you had parents that were enlightened and understood what it means to be a sexual being as a teenager. This unfortunately is rare.

 

Unfortunately, most people still think on a primitive level rather than a progressive one. That's why we have the nanny laws we have today.

The dinosaurs are not extinct. They are in charge.

 

uhm...but isn't it better for girls dating guys too old for them to have a source for help. Wouldn't it be better to get birth control and not get pregnant and be attached to the cradle robber for life? Also, stat rape isn't always wrong. When I was 17 I was with a 25 year old who I was with for 5 years and it was I who did not want to wait untill I was 18. I'm not with him anymore because he can't handle adult women who refuse to be eye candy but I was not harmed nor do I feel like I was ever taken advantage of in the least.

 

Certainly! Birth control should be easily available and strongly encouraged. Planned Parenthood does a good job at this. They feature a sight called Teenwire. Perhaps other organizations including National Organization for Women might want to promote such programs as well. If I'm correct, certain birth control methods available overseas are not avilable here. If this is the case, this needs to change! In many places in Europe, a fact of life is that while the rate of sexual activity is about as high as it is in the US, the rate of teen pregnancy is much lower. This is largely because birth control is used much more regularly there.

Either sexual activity is consentual or it is not (i.e.rape)! I question the need for a statutory clause unless it is to protect those not capable of understanding the activity in question. Yours is a classic example of where in the eyes of the law what I'll call a political offense (commonly but IMO erroneously referred to as a victimless crime) occurred. FWIW, Do realize though that in most states, your lover would not have violated the 'law'. Only California and about a dozen or so other states have an age of consent of eighteen. Most states are sixteen, a few are seventeen.
http://www.ageofconsent.com/ageofconsent.htm