(NYT) Trial Opens in Challenge to Law Over Teenage Sex (KS forbids)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/31/national/31sex.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print
January 31, 2006
Trial Opens in Challenge to Law Over Teenage Sex
By JODI RUDOREN

WICHITA, Kan., Jan. 30 — A federal trial opened here Monday over whether a Kansas law prohibiting virtually all sexual activity by people under age 16 means health care professionals and educators must report such behavior to state authorities, which some say would stop many teenagers from seeking contraception or treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.

The class-action lawsuit stems from a 2003 opinion by the Kansas attorney general, Phill Kline, a conservative Republican who has developed a national reputation for fighting abortion and whose pursuit of abortion clinic records is also being challenged in court.

Mr. Kline's interpretation of the law focused mainly on the reporting duty of abortion providers, arguing that any pregnant, unmarried minor had by definition been the victim of rape or abuse. But it included a broad mandate for reporting whenever "compelling evidence of sexual interaction is present."

Bonnie Scott Jones, a lawyer for the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York, which is representing the plaintiffs, said in her opening statement that Mr. Kline's "dragnet approach" to amassing information on under-age sex violated minors' privacy rights and the Constitution's equal protection clause, and that it "seriously endangers the health and well-being of adolescents."

......"Sexual abuse is not synonymous with consensual sexual activity," Ms. Jones said to the judge deciding the case, J. Thomas Marten of Federal District Court. "Consensual sexual activity is not inherently injurious. It is a normal part of adolescent development."

.......Kansas is one of 12 states where sex under a certain age — 16, 17 or 18 — is illegal regardless of the age difference between partners, according to a 2004 report prepared by the Lewin Group, a consulting firm, for the federal Department of Health and Human Services. Laws on reporting child sexual abuse also vary, but a third of states require reporting only when statutory rape involves a parent or guardian, the report found.

Dr. Robert W. Blum, a Johns Hopkins University professor and an expert in pediatrics and adolescent medicine, who was the plaintiffs' lead witness, testified Monday that only one state, California, had previously tried to require reporting of all under-age sex, and that it reversed course after a year in the early 1990's because the authorities were flooded with "irrelevant and obstructive" reports.

about sex, but they're fine with the state prosecuting their kids for having sex. Okey dokey. There will be a lot of young fundies and Republicans with criminal records.

Kansas today, the rest of the nation tomorrow: not just the eternal death of American liberty, but the imposition of Christian theocracy forever.

(Note that the Bush Administration has already imposed such restrictions on the military: coitus with a prostitute is now a court-martial offense. Which means the GI who catches an STD won't report it, which in turn means another sweeping VD epidemic -- another step backward into the theocratic dark ages. Then of course there's the Bush ban on cervical cancer inoculations, not to mention the morning-after pill. Believe me: this is just the beginning, and with Alito on the court there is absolutely no hope of preserving even the slightest vestiges of liberty, not now, not ever again.)

16 is breathing.


Everyone who broke the law when they were under the age of 16 raise your hand.
:hi: