Is it encouraging crime when a 16 year old girl asks for advice on birth control and gets it from adults?

Question

My question was deleted because some women did not want to see ther truth for what it really was. A question was asked by a 16 year old girl and I will post the link here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjBwAeS7KmumtqY4jMoJ5smA7hR.?qid=20070605091829AA1rXQo

A girl under 18 asks about whether she needs her parents consent to get birth control and women showered her with advice about how to do so based on the state she lives in and not one of those answers from these women have anything to do with the fact that she is 18 years old! She's a minor and people go to jail for that. To prison! Statutory rape is a crime.

Why did these people encourage her? I'm no Puritan but there are these things we have called Laws.

Which state are you from where the legal age of consent is 16?

OK I'm officially disgusted by some of these answers.
Wy hasn't anyone highlighted the seriousness of the matter? If she is 16 and it is underage in her state, hasn't anyone considered what their responsibilities are here? That guy should be held accountable. Do women want to continually be victimized or do they want to have a real equal footing

finally! "sassy" has hit it on the head.
Pedophilia is a crime! Will anyone please address this issue with some responsibility now?

Most of the answers so far keep harping on the girl all the time. I think it is a sore reflection on society, always looking to the female for her pregnancy. No one seems to be holding the male accountable. I am saddened that of all these answers, almost none of you seem to consider that fact and just brush over the point that it takes a male to get her preganant.

Answer 1

I can understand your concern about not advising minors about how to obtain birth control.I also realize that it is also a criminal offence for an adult to have sex ( this is not makng love)with a minor child (regardless of gender).However the reality is that these girls will be sexually active regardless of what we say.At the very least I would hope an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy can be avoided.We cannot bury our heads in the sand and hope a problem will disappear.It saddens me that children are not only being sexually active but are also becoming pregnant as a result.We can only try our best to educate young people of both genders of the health risks of being sexually active.Being sexually active brings with it consequences for both parties.You have based your kneejerk reaction based on the sexually active teen being a female so let me ask you should teen boys be barred from buying condoms? I am not a feminist or radical in any way but have family values too.

Answer 2

Your question is actually two questions.

First, regarding the birth control. It is well established case and constitutional law that a minor may ask for and receive birth control without being first required to inform or gain the permission of his/her parents.

That question is a rather moot point.

The second question regarding age of consent is more complicated. First, the age of consent is different in different states as you have been told.

Next, the age of consent and a criminal charge are different in different states. So, while a child under the age of 18 may still be considered a minor, and the age of consent, even if 18 in the state, the actors and victim's age together are the determining factors in pursuing a criminal charge.

For example, in New York state, while the age of consent is 17, it is not a crime for a 13 year-old girl to have sex with a 17 year-old boy.

Under 17 years of age: New York law states that a person less than 17 years of age is legally incapable of consenting to sexual intercourse or other sexual contact. These laws are typically known as statutory rape laws.

If the victim is under 13, and the defendant is at least 18, this constitutes a 1st degree sexual offense. 1st degree crimes are considered the most serious ones and carry the longest penalties.

If the victim is under 15 and the perpetrator is at least 18, this constitutes a 2nd degree sexual offense. However, if the defendant is less than 4 years older than the victim, this may constitute an affirmative defense. Affirmative defenses are those in which the defendant introduces evidence which negates criminal liability.

Therefore, under your question, there is no way to provide a relevant answer since the question itself is far too broad and does not address the specifics of the subject state.

EDITED TO ADD BASED ON YOUR SMARTA**ED REMARKS:

If you don't like the answers, then take it up with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Answer 3

Anyone not allowing all forms of life-skills education is committing a crime.This include sexual information .One thing that people have to realize, all this information is in the public domain. Anyone answering a question truthfully cannot be committing the crime of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
This girl knew that there were hoops to jump through before she had sex. She was going to have sex AND wanted to protect herself.
Law aside. Which is the lesser of 2 evils for a minor? An unwanted pregnancy or a protected sexual experiment?
I have 12 and 16 year old girls. My nerves are shot on this subject but at least they both know that they can come to me with a situation like this. I will have them protected before the fact, not after the fact.

Answer 4

No it is not encouraging a crime for all she was doing was asking advice on Birth Control from adults. If 90% of all other teens did this, there would be a drastic drop in unwanted pregnancies. They are not the ones committing the statutory rape. As one of answers states; Teens will have sex and that is a fact. You would think the parents of the child would be a little bit more understanding in regards to birth control for their child. Giving advice is not a crime.

Answer 5

I don't know but the legal age of consent in my state is 16. Right or wrong, it's better not to have an unwanted pregnancy. It sounds like no law was broken.
Now, whether or not a 16 year old should be having sex is another matter entirely. But if she is going to do it, it's better she is on birth control. Really.

Answer 6

In Massachusetts the legal age of consent is 16 for sex. Anyone can get birth control at any age by visiting a local Planned Parenthood and discussing it with them. Or the girl can discuss it with her own doctor. Doctors will not tell the parents about the birth control, most likely because they don't want to get into trouble with HIPPA privacy laws.
I would rather see a young girl get birth control and use condoms then to go ahead and have sex without getting BC and condoms, which she will do anyway without advice. So I hope she gets BC if she is planning on having sex at a young age.

Answer 7

I'm no puritian either, I got pregnant shortly before turning 17, If I had access to my own birth control insted of counting on a man for it, I'd probably not have gotten pregnant in high school. If I had some advise, from women who know what they're talking about, it may have helped. This is also why I am prochoice, No man should have ANY control over a womans body. A woman is someone of reproducible age. If it bleeds it breeds. And if she gets pregnant at 16, what is the world going to say. Oh, she could have gone on birth control. Her parents would ask her why she didn't ask them.

Its embarassing enough to have a doctor look at your parts, but for a girl, it's torture.

Answer 8

Actually, the age of consent for sex is 16 or 17 in most U.S. states. It's only 18 in about 10 or 12 states. Age of consent for sex and age of majority (adulthood) are two completely different things.

Here's a quick look:

http://www.coolnurse.com/consent.htm

LOL, the age of consent was 12 and 13 in a lot of places years ago, changes to 16, 17, and 18 just happened in the last few decades in many places.

So to answer your question, in most states the sex itself is not a crime if you are 16 or 17. And even in that handful of states where you have to be 18 to give consent, birth control advice alone is not criminal, even when given to a minor. (And we don't know that her intended partner is over 18 anyway. For all we know, he could be 15 or 16.)

******You keep talking about pedophilia, when the girl only asked about birth control. I read her question, she never said if she even has a boyfriend, but if she does, we have no idea from her question that he is not a boy her same age from school or something. And again, consent for sex is 16 or 17 in most states. The link I provided gives a good overview. I had a better one that had links to each state's statutes all in one site, but it no longer works.

Answer 9

It's not encouraging crime. If she's engaging with someone her own age it's not statutory rape.

Besides, children are doing it younger and younger these days. There are some even younger than she is that are already mothers. They're going to do it anyway, especially if law or parental control forbids it. So, should we not at least encourage sexual education and birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancies? Perhaps less babies would end up in dumpsters if more teens grew up in an informed environment. Education is preventing crime too.

Answer 10

In case you are on the tablet and you take it as directed then you will have to no longer be concerned about having a little one with birth defects. The tablet prevents toddlers. I've certainly not ever heard anything about birth manipulate causing start defects. So far as the whole lot else goes the acne and all that...If it can be doing this to you then tell your doctor you don't just like the part results of this tablet and inform her you want to check out an extra capsule. Easy as that.