Caught between teens and the law: family planning programs and statutory rape reporting.

In the US, policy-makers and legislators have considered using statutory rape prosecutions of males to reduce the incidence of adolescent pregnancy or the incidence of minors being exploited sexually by much older males. However, health care professionals fear that mandatory reporting of such cases will discourage young women from seeking health care. Statutory rape laws vary from state to state, but every state has an age below which a minor may not legally consent to sexual intercourse. Reporting laws are more complicated because they are tied to child abuse statutes instead of statutory rape laws. In about half of the states, the definition of child abuse includes some cases of statutory rape. Thus, agencies created to deal with intrafamilial abuse have no mechanism for responding to reports of extrafamilial statutory rape, so some case reports are simply filed while others result in the man being charged with a crime. Such a response simply breaches the confidentiality of the victim and has other unintended negative consequences. Many service providers edit the questions they ask their clients so that they can avoid mandatory reporting. Others tell their clients not to divulge the age of their sexual partner, but such a warning can make young women afraid to confide in service providers. To shed light on this dilemma, the American Bar Association is doing research to identify the "best practice" adopted by communities seeking a more vigorous response to statutory rape laws, and lawmakers should wait for this report before taking action.