15 is a better age of sexual consent than 18

Point #1: Age of Majority – Carried from R2 Despite the connection evident in my R2 argument connecting Age of Majority as being a practical consideration regarding the most appropriate Age of Consent, my opponent has labeled the Age of Majority as irrelevant without providing any suggestions or rationale whatsoever as to why he refutes the case I have clearly laid out in R2. Instead he says that age of majority is not a well-established fact, which makes little sense. The Age of Majority in the USA is, factually, 18 at a minimum[1]. While I agree that maturity is somewhat subjective that is not my point, and this debate is not about changing the Age of Majority – I simply am pointing out that the Age of Majority is one legitimate reason why 18 is a more suitable Age of Consent than 15. This is not based on physical maturity, nor social appropriateness of pregnancy in high school as my opponent seems to suggest. It simply is a practical matter that delineation of responsibility is best handed off in full at 18, and the lines should not be blurred before then by a 15 year old being able to make legal choices which may result in pregnancy. Therefore my R2 Point #1 regarding Age of Majority still stands. Point #2: Prevent Unwanted Pregnancies – Carried from R2 My opponent seems to think that pregnancy can be separated from sex and independently made illegal, and this is not so. If he believes it to be so then the burden of proof is on him and I will address his argument in my conclusions in R4. I clearly and pre-emptively stated in the first point of my R2 conclusion that it is illogical to separate sex and pregnancy into two divergent legal matters. Pregnancy is not a choice by either party – it happens largely based on chance. The factors that contribute toward pregnancy having a much higher chance of occurrence – ie, knowledge of fertility cycle, knowledge of and proper administration of birth control - are all within the control of the [typically younger] female partner. It does not make sense that an older male would NOT face any punishment for having sex with a 15 year old female, but he WOULD face financial and criminal punishment if - by sheer chance and a degree of control on the part of the younger female - she DID get pregnant! That’s simply nonsense. If two parties willingly consent to sexual relations there is ALWAYS a chance of pregnancy, that chance cannot be separated from the original consent to engage in sex. The fact that a 15 year old has a fully sexually developed physical body does not mean they have control over pregnancy, and at 15 we both recognize that pregnancy is not beneficial. The only way to reduce the occurrence is to reduce the occurrence of the sex that leads to it, and a 3 year higher age of consent would logically restrict the occurrence of sex and thus the occurrence of pregnancy. My R2 Point #2 regarding the reduction of teenage pregnancies still stands. Point #3: Maturity – Accepted I did not see any arguments by my opponent refuting the age of full development for the human brain and the suggestion that due to a non-fully developed brain teenagers may not properly consider consequences of sexual activity. Therefore I will assume for now that this point has been accepted by my opponent. R3 Final ThoughtsFinally, my opponent has misunderstood me regarding safe sex, somehow drawing an absurd conclusion that I’ve suggested unsafe sex should be practiced. I never stated that I think a 15 year old should have unsafe sex. This is in fact against my entire argument that a 15 year old should have NO sex. I simply said that it was up to my opponent to define “safe sex” as pertinent to his proposal, should he wish to officially introduce any element of that proposal as an argument, which he has failed to do. Since he has not introduced this argument there is nothing for me to refute here! I simply made a helpful suggestion that should he choose to introduce the argument he should save his time unless he can provide a legally compelling rationale that accounts for religious rejection of birth control, as it is an obvious problem to his idea of separating safe-sex from unsafe-sex let alone separating sex from pregnancy! [1] - http://contests.about.com...