Age of Consent Policies

Rebuttal "Obviously, Intercourse goes beyond simple pleasure. It can cause pregnancy, Which has multiple effects itself. For example, Consider this: 'In 2017, A total of 194, 377 babies were born to women aged 15"19 years. . . Only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by 22 years of age, Whereas approximately 90% of women who do not give birth during adolescence graduate from high school. '" According to the CDC report you referenced, Age of consent policies have yet to be determined as a factor in preventing or reducing teenage pregnancies: "Although reasons for the declines are not totally clear, Evidence suggests these declines are due to more teens abstaining from sexual activity, And more teens who are sexually active using birth control than in previous years. " (1) It's also worth noting the some of the limitations of that report: "Limitations Our study had several limitations. When self-reported information is used, One must always consider the potential for over- and under-reporting. Adolescents are generally reliable reporters of information on sexual health. However, Given increasing social pressure to delay sexual initiation and avoid pregnancy, Adolescents may be more likely today than in the past to underreport sexual activity or overreport contraceptive use. Although the overall NSFG sample size is adequate, Sample sizes become problematically small in analyses of subgroups. This was particularly true for the Black and Hispanic subgroups, In which the numbers of sexually active young women fell below 100. Moreover, Variance around changes in percentages or around attribution was much larger than variance around estimates for a single point in time. As such, Care should be taken in interpreting our estimates for these smaller subgroups. . . . We assumed that there were no changes in whether contraceptives were used correctly or in biological fecundity. Correct use of contraception can be assessed via measuring changes in typical-use CFRs. We used the most recent available failure rates (for 1995). Ranjit et al. Found no changes between 1988 and 1995 in typical-use CFRs (note that questions about contraception use at most recent intercourse did assess consistency of use). 18 No data are available to measure changes in biological fecundity among teenagers (or adults). " In addition, When doing a cross-country analysis, Switzerland had the lowest rates among Western countries in teenage pregnancy, Yet Switzerland's age of consent is at 16. (2) And while the United States has an age of consent as high as 18 years old, Most states have an age of consent at 16. (The U. S. Military code for armed services defines age of consent at 16 as well, But also allows exemptions for those married to 12-15 year old minors. [3]) "1 in 4 teens contract a sexually transmitted disease every year. " And one in two persons who are sexually active will contract an STI by the time their 25, Years above the age of consent (4) In spite of half of the new emergence of STI's occurring among those who are 15-24 years of age, Age of consent policies are currently imposed. This incidence of STI contraction is concurrent with already existing age of consent policies. " Do you have any evidence which suggests that teens who have sex with those above the age of consent puts them at more risk of contracting an STI? Or that current age of consent policies prevent or address the prevention of teenage sexual encounters among themselves, Preventing the spread of STI's? "The Impact The government itself already spends plenty on contraception prevention efforts: 'if we were able to avert all unintended births among teens, It would amount to $1. 9 billion in additional public savings each year in the United States. '" What does this have to do with age of consent policies and the effects of their measures? "Besides this, The fact that students are dropping out of schools because they are getting pregnant affects more than just them, But their parents as well. Assuming these are rational, Loving parents, They are going to help their child to raise this child, Which puts stress on them to, In some cases, Have to work more in order to pay for such things. " Parens Patriae doesn't simply manifest in age of consent policies, But also Child Labor Policies, Which stifle Youth Employment. Furthermore, Hikes in the minimum wage are associated with declines in teenage employment (5. ) "effects to a child of a teenage mother include: greater risk for lower birth weight and infant mortality less prepared to enter kindergarten rely more heavily on publicly funded health care are more likely to be incarcerated at some time during adolescence are more likely to drop out of high school are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed as a young adult" And which of these effects are age-based, And not residuals of economic and social policy? "This as all led up to say this: the persistence of the age of consent laws are not about the age of an individual and that effect on their decision-making capacity. . . " This is in fact not true: "Age of consent refers to the legally defined age at which a person is no longer required to obtain parental consent to get married. It also refers to the age at which a person is held to have the capacity to voluntarily agree to sexual intercourse. " (6) "But rather the effect of intercourse by teens on not only themselves, But their families, Their children, And society as a whole. It causes the U. S. To pay more money, It causes families more stress, It causes teens to have worse health, And it causes their children to live worse lives. " So how do age of consent policies address any of that which you mentioned? Do age of consent policies address teenage pregnancy? STI contraction? How do the age-based restrictions define the effects to which you speak? References are in the comments of my profile.