Yesterday in Aid for Women v. Foulston Judge Marten of the U.S. District Court for Kansas ruled that Kansas Attorney General Phil Kline could not use a Kansas statute requiring doctors and teachers to report potential child abuse to force health care providers to report consensual sexual activity by teenagers under the age of 16.
Kline had wanted to require counselors and medical professionals to report to authorities any situation in which there was reason to believe a teenager between the ages of 12 and 16 had engaged in sexual activity, even if it had been consensual and between “age-mates,” defined as persons within three years of one another in age. This would have meant that an adolescent’s trip to the doctor to treat an STD or obtain birth control might also result in a criminal investigation, which Judge Marten noted might deter teens from seeking health-care services, endangering their well-being instead of protecting it.
Update: “JDFeminist” helpfully e-mailed a reminder to credit this to Bonnie Scott Jones and Simon Heller of the Center For Reproductive Rights.
