School Leaders Told What Law Says About Sex Under Age 14
Last week I lamented the fact the school board for one of the schools in my home state had voted to allow middle schoolers as young as 11 years old to get birth control pills without having to disclose the reason for the health visit to the parents.
There’s a new twist in the story now and it’s a good one. The District Attorney has told the members that Maine law prohibits sex with anyone under the age of 14, regardless of the age of the other person involved.
A health care provider must report all known or suspected cases of sex with minors age 13 and under to the state Department of Health and Human Services, she said. Abuse also must be reported to the appropriate district attorney’s office, Anderson said, when the suspected perpetrator is someone other than the minor’s parent or guardian.
“When it’s somebody under age 14, it is a crime and it must be reported,” Anderson said. “The health care provider has no discretion in the matter. It’s up to the district attorney to decide.”
Anderson said she contacted Portland officials after she learned that some employees of the health centers, which are operated by the city’s Public Health Division, believed they could decide whether a child’s sexual activity constituted criminal abuse.
In fact, if a child under age 14 was having consensual sex with someone of a similar age, health center employees weren’t reporting it to the proper authorities, said City Attorney Gary Wood.
Anderson said doctors and other health care providers in private practice may falsely believe they have similar leeway, but they must follow the same laws.
“It’s clear that it’s going on all the time,” Anderson said. “Either the law is going to be enforced or it needs to be changed. I don’t think a law should be routinely violated.”
Portland’s six school-based health centers had no formal policy on reporting sexual activity involving students under age 14, said Douglas Gardner, director of Portland’s Department of Health and Human Services.
Gardner said it’s unclear whether any health center employee failed to report suspected cases to the state Department of Health and Human Services, but they did fail to report cases to Anderson’s office.
“Moving forward, we will report to the letter of the law,” Gardner said.
It may not stop under age children from having sex, but it will definitely stop the schools and health authorities from helping them.
Written by ~J~
